Singapore - ASEAN summit fails to agree on concluding joint statement

PHNOM PENH: For the first time in ASEAN's history, the 10-member regional grouping has failed to issue a joint communique at the end of its summit.

This comes after ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Cambodia's Phnom Penh disagreed on how to address territorial claims in the South China Sea.

For days, the ministers were wrangling over the final statement for the summit which ended on Friday.

ASEAN had hoped to have a binding code of conduct to govern the way China and Southeast Asian nations settle their disputes.

ASEAN members - Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia - all make rival claims on the areas of the sea, where tensions recently mounted. China's claims encompass almost the entire South China Sea.

Talks floundered after China insisted the forum was not the appropriate place to discuss the issue.

Cambodia, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), was unable to forge a consensus.

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan described the outcome of the regional summit as very disappointing.

Cambodia's foreign minister Hor Namhong said: "If we issue a joint communique as we did in Bali, then we would be talking about the South China Sea, but there's no conclusion as there's no consensus. Some ASEAN members are taking this failure to issue a joint communique as an excuse for some nations and China to be at odds with each other."

Diplomats at the meeting said Cambodia resisted any steps that would embarrass Beijing.

Cambodia and China met on the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings and the Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi expressed his appreciation for Cambodia's long-standing firm support for China on issues concerning Chinese core interests.

Indonesia said the inability of ASEAN to agree to a common position over the South China Sea is "utterly irresponsible" while the Philippines said it deplores the non-issuance of a joint communique.

Indonesia's foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said: "I think it is utterly irresponsible if we cannot come up with a common statement on South China Sea. This is a time when ASEAN should be seen to be acting as one, when the rest of the region expects ASEAN to be acting as one, and that's why it's extremely disappointing that so far, we have not been able to achieve that."

Singapore's Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam said the outcome is extremely disappointing and that it has put a severe dent on ASEAN's credibility.

"To put it bluntly, it is a severe dent on ASEAN's credibility. We talk about issues in the world in past communiques, but we are unable to deal with something that's happening right here in the neighbourhood and say something about it," said Mr Shanmugam.

Even though Singapore is not one of the claimant states, the republic's fundamental interest is that there has to be freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

Mr Shanmugam said the joint communique is important, as it not only covers the South China Sea issue.

He also elaborated on the implications to Singapore.

"I have previously remarked the international political environment is one where the rules are often unclear between big and small countries. We are a small country and for us, the more rules of engagement and a structured framework within countries particularly in the region have to operate, the better it is for us. Otherwise, the smallest country on the totem pole would be left without rules.

"We are one of the founding members of ASEAN. It is in our core interest to make sure that ASEAN is strong and credible and in our security and economic interests. Anything that affects ASEAN's credibility therefore also affects our own perception of how the regional situation is. We need to think about it. And I think ASEAN countries will have to come together and try and see how we can move on."

Southeast Asian nations have a target to create an ASEAN community by 2015.

While a lot of effort has been invested to achieve this goal, the question now is that with the credibility of group clearly affected, can it make this community a reality?

- CNA/fa

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