ASEAN Foreign Ministers Fail to Agree on S China Sea During Meeting in Laos
16:12 24.07.2016(updated 16:13 24.07.2016)
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during a meeting in Laos' capital of Vientiane failed to take a unified stance on the South China Sea territorial dispute, mainly because of the divisions between Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia, Kyodo reported on Sunday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The meeting took place after the UN-appointed arbitration court in Hague rejected China's expansive claims to the South China Sea resources. The trial was initiated by Philippines, China has stated that it would not accept the ruling.
According to the Kyodo news agency, 10-member bloc could not produce a unified stance after hours of negotiations. Senior officials from Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia, which have close ties with China, were not able to narrow differences over the wording for a paragraph on the South China Sea issue.
A number of disputed islands, including the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands, are located in the South China Sea. Beijing's territorial claims to the Spratly Islands, known as the Nansha Islands in China, which are believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves, run counter to those of the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
© Sputnik
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
