ASEAN core quietly converging on China in South China Sea

MANILA – The South China Sea disputes pitting China against rival Southeast Asian states have entered a perilous new phase as China and the Philippines tilt toward direct armed confrontation over a growing number of contested maritime features.

Meanwhile, the geopolitical stakes of the confrontation are spiking as the United States and its allies conduct patrols in the disputed waters, drawing Beijing’s ire and complaint the Americans are deliberately destabilizing an already tense maritime theater which includes Taiwan.

And yet, the latest Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) Summit held in Laos was mainly silent on the troubling direction of the disputes and, specifically, the China predicament faced by bloc members such as the Philippines. Despite releasing a long chairman statement, ASEAN failed to forge any consensus on concrete mechanisms to address the brewing crisis.

Laos, a key trading and investment partner of China, largely dictated the terms and topics of the summit’s discussions. In his intervention, Chinese Premier Li Qiang nonchalantly insisted that China has consistently committed itself to “international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”

Li also said China has “honored the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), opted for dialogue and consultation with countries directly concerned in properly handling differences and actively engaged in practical maritime cooperation.”

Despite China’s rising militarization of disputed land features and its regular naval drills and deployment of armadas of militia and coast guard vessels across the hotly disputed maritime region, Li maintained that “there are no obstacles whatsoever to freedom of