Russia and China voted against a joint statement from the East Asia summit, according to a US official. This was mainly due to objections to language on the disputed South China Sea, the insider told Reuters.
A draft drawn up by consensus by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was presented to the 18-nation East Asia Summit in Laos on Thursday evening. “ASEAN presented this final draft and essentially said it was an accept-or-reject draft,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Vientiane on Friday that the final statement was not adopted because of “stubborn attempts by the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to turn it into a purely political statement.”
China says it supports a code but does not recognize a 2016 arbitration ruling. “Relevant countries outside the region should respect and support the joint efforts of China and regional countries to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, and truly play a constructive role for peace and stability in the region,” the Chinese said Prime Minister Li Qiang at the summit.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea and has increased pressure on rival littoral states, including several ASEAN countries, particularly the Philippines. The ASEAN states have been negotiating a code of conduct with Beijing for years for the strategically important waterway.
