What a Retracted Statement Says About China’s Growing Power in the South China Sea
It was there—and then it wasn’t. On Tuesday evening, foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) performed a diplomatic magic trick. First, after a meeting with their Chinese counterpart in southwest China, they issued a statement on the rising tensions in the South China Sea, parts of which are claimed by six regional governments. The language, for a body that prides itself on consensus-making and group photos of grinning dignitaries, was stern: “We expressed our serious concerns over recent and ongoing developments, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and which may have the potential to undermine peace, security and stability in the South China Sea.”
The nation that was eroding “trust and confidence” in the strategic waterway was unnamed. But China, which has embarked on an ambitious island-building campaign in disputed waters, and has blamed the U.S. for masterminding any regional conflict, was mentioned elsewhere in the statement. “We also cannot ignore what is happening in the South China Sea,” the communiqué read, “as it is an important issue in the relations and cooperation between ASEAN and China.”
While that sentence might seem anodyne, it implies a repudiation of China’s preferred approach of negotiating bilaterally with each rival claimant, rather than facing the united front of a regional body. The ASEAN statement also cautioned against “militarization” in the South China Sea, a clear rebuke against China’s defense build-up, which includes not only the new islands complete with runways that can welcome military jets, but also missile batteries, radar facilities and a coast guard that regularly comes into conflict with fishing boats from other littoral nations.
But, less than three hours after the ASEAN statement was released by the Malaysian Foreign Ministry, a spokeswoman retracted the document, saying that “urgent amendments” were needed. By the end of the evening, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had made his own statement refuting the contention that the South China Sea dispute was a sticking point between his country and the regional body as a whole.
http://time.com/4369660/asean-south-china-sea-statement/
