Phnom Penh. Days of heated diplomacy ended in failure on Friday as
splits over territorial disputes with China prevented Southeast Asian nations
from issuing their customary joint statement.
Foreign ministers from the
10-member Asean bloc have this week tried to hammer out a final communique in
Cambodia, which has held up progress on a draft code of conduct aimed at
soothing tension in the flashpoint South China Sea.
China claims sovereignty over
nearly all of the resource-rich sea, which is home to vital shipping lanes, but
the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei among others have competing
claims in the area.
The Philippines lambasted the
failure at the summit, saying "it deplores the non-issuance of a joint
communique... which was unprecedented in Asean's 45-year existence."
It had insisted that Asean refer
to a stand-off last month with China over a rocky outcrop known as the
Scarborough Shoal, but Cambodia — a Beijing ally and chair of the meeting —
resisted.
Taking "strong
exception" to Cambodia for opposing mention of the shoal, the Philippine
statement said divisions undercut previous Asean agreements on tackling
disputes as a unit, "and not in a bilateral fashion — the approach which
its northern neighbor (China) has been insisting on."
China is a key bankroller of
Cambodia and some diplomats said Phnom Penh had played Beijing's hand at the
summit by blocking a communique mentioning specific alleged infringements.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor
Namhong expressed regret at the discord within the organization, but said he
could "not accept that the joint communique has become the hostage of the
bilateral issue (between the Philippines and China."
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, who joined the summit on Thursday, had expressed hope of Asean unity
and had urged progress on the code of conduct, which is seen as reducing the
chances of conflict in the South China Sea.
Analysts said the friction could
"contaminate" future negotiations between Asean and China.
"Cambodia is showing itself
as China's stalking horse. This will make negotiating a final code of conduct
with China more difficult," said Southeast Asia expert Carl Thayer, who
runs a consultancy. "I find it difficult to believe that ASEAN foreign
ministers cannot come up with some formulation that satisfies all
parties."
Michelle
Fitzpatrick
Agence France-Presse
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