ASEAN Leaders Disagree Over South China Sea Disputes

Southeast Asian leaders meeting at a regional summit in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh are once again disagreeing over the contentious issue of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

As leaders wrapped up their final day of the East Asia and ASEAN summit on Tuesday, the Philippines objected to a draft statement saying all sides have agreed to not internationalize the disputes.

Philippines Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario said no consensus has been reached on the issue, contrary to the draft circulated by Cambodia, the current ASEAN chair and a close ally of China.

"Consensus means everybody, OK? I was there, the president was there," said del Rosario. "How can they say there was consensus when we're saying there was no consensus?"

The squabble was reminiscent of an ASEAN meeting in July, when the 10-member bloc could not agree on a joint statement for the first time in its history because of objections by Cambodia, which did not want to mention discussions of the dispute.

China, which claims almost all of the energy-rich sea, does not want ASEAN involvement in negotiating or discussing the disputes. It instead prefers dealing individually with its much weaker rival claimants, including the Philippines, Vietnam and others.

Despite objections from China, U.S. President Barack Obama raised the issue Tuesday during closed-door sessions of the summit. There were no indications about possible progress on the issue, though most observers expected very little.

But Southeast Asia analyst Don Emmerson of Stanford University tells VOA he thinks China is slowly opening up to the idea of de facto negotiations with ASEAN.

"If [China is] not careful, their insistence on bilateral negotiations only with the four Southeast Asian countries may create an excuse for the expansion of the group of folks around the table, even possibly to include the United States," says Emmerson. "To avoid that outcome, they're settling for a middle position that is: let's negotiate with ASEAN."

ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan downplayed the disagreement between the Philippines and Cambodia on Tuesday, telling reporters that regional leaders remain focused on solving other pursuits.

"I think it's a matter of interpretation," Pitsuwan. "As far as I'm concerned, there is a consensus that we would like to pursue the issue without having it affecting other constructive, other positive momentum that we are trying to create."

Those pursuits include several economic issues, such as the proposed creation of a massive free trade pact between China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Meanwhile, Japan, South Korea and China are holding talks on a separate three-way free trade agreement.

On Sunday, ASEAN leaders adopted a non-binding declaration they say will guarantee human rights protections for the population of the region. But rights groups say the declaration contains loopholes that could allow authoritarian governments such at Vietnam and Laos to skirt the agreement. ---VOA News