Leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region take part in the East Asia Summit on Nov. 13, part of three days of ASEAN-led meetings in Phnom Penh.
© Agence Kampuchea Press
Updated on November 13, 2022 19:00 JST

PHNOM PENH -- Southeast Asian leaders on Sunday concluded their annual summit, after three days of intense talks on everything from the crisis in Myanmar to the Ukraine war and tensions in the South China Sea.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations held the marathon meetings in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, where discussions with bigger powers including China, the U.S. and Russia highlighted deep divisions on critical security issues.

"We must maintain ASEAN unity regardless of circumstances for the best interests of the whole region," Cambodian Prime Minister HE, this year's rotating ASEAN chair, said as he handed over the chairmanship to Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

A White House handout about Sunday's East Asia Summit said Biden underscored that freedom of navigation and overflight must be respected in both the East China and South China seas, and that all disputes must be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law. Biden also said the U.S. would "compete vigorously" and vowed to speak out on Chinese human rights abuses, while keeping lines of communication open to prevent conflict.

In the draft of the East Asia Summit statement, some leaders expressed "concern" over land reclamation and other activities that have "eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions, and may undermine peace, security, and stability in the region." They did not, however, name China.

On Sunday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea should be followed in the South China Sea, which he called a vital global trade route.

"It's important to avoid conflict," Marcos stressed to reporters afterward.
Marcos also said that a long overdue "code of conduct" being negotiated by ASEAN and China is "urgently needed." He did not directly cite the arbitration ruling Manila won in 2016, which invalidated Beijing's expansive claims to the sea -- a decision China rejects.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Intern ... ea-Ukraine

China’s patient but insistent South China Sea grab
China is willing to defer its goal of total sea ownership within its nine-dash line, trading off speedy victory for a less contentious one
by Denny Roy June 13, 2023

A retired People’s Liberation Army senior colonel recently wrote that the South China Sea “is far more dangerous” than Taiwan as a potential trigger for a US-China war.

His reasoning was that while close encounters between US and People’s Republic of China ships and aircraft are rare near Taiwan, they are frequent in the South China Sea, and could easily lead to an accidental shooting incident that escalates into a larger military conflict.

It is more plausible, however, to argue that the South China Sea is less war-prone than the Taiwan Strait. Beijing says increasing US support is pushing Taiwan toward independence, which the Chinese government has committed itself to go to war to prevent.

In contrast, US “freedom of navigation” operations in the South China Sea, in which US Navy vessels briefly sail through Chinese-claimed waters, do little if anything to weaken China’s position.

While both Taiwan and the South China Sea are cases of PRC expansionism, China’s policy toward the latter is characterized by patience – although buttressed by an insistence that other governments must not make permanent gains at China’s expense.

The PRC is uncompromising on the desired end state: ownership of the maritime territory and land features within its nine-dash line. Yet Beijing is willing to defer realization of that objective well into the future. It trades off a speedy victory for a less contentious one.

Is it fair to call China’s policy “expansionism”?
Beijing’s official articulation of its position is limited to the nine-dash line (sometimes with a tenth dash added to encompass Taiwan) and an oft-repeated statement, “China has undisputable sovereignty over the islands and their adjacent waters in the South China Sea.”

Every summer since 1999, Beijing has unilaterally imposed a ban on foreigners fishing in the northern part of the South China Sea far beyond any reasonable interpretation of a Chinese exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This is a calculated demonstration of administrative control.
More: https://asiatimes.com/2023/06/chinas-pa ... -sea-grab/

bolueeleh wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2016 2:53 pm fucking chinky chink chanks netizen now are posting shits all over their internet celebrating the fact that they dont give a shit, whats new? they dont give a shit 10 years ago when they realise they are going to be a superpower anyway, thats why their tourist act like they own the fucking world when they are overseas

In fairness, I think you could make the same claim about Americans, or any nation at the height of their power, the old adage power corrupts...

Another point, which not everyone is aware of: Taiwan also claims the 9-Dash Line area, which is one reason why America finds itself in an unenviable situation. If you scrap the line (yeah, right) it's not just China that gets pissed off.

Chinese ambassador tagged as 'undesirable'
By Javier Joe Ismael
August 20, 2023
(UPDATE) THE Sangguniang Bayan of Kalayaan in the province of Palawan adopted a resolution on Aug. 3, 2023 declaring Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian as persona non grata.

Resolution 125-015 was introduced by Sangguniang Bayan (legislative body) member Maurice Philip Alexis Albayda after Ambassador Huang allegedly took for granted the alleged harassment undertaken by Chinese vessels against the Philippine vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

The latest incident was the China Coast Guard (CCG) ships firing water cannons and making "dangerous maneuvers" against Philippine ships in the South China Sea which the Chinese envoy allegedly defended by saying that the CCG did what they are supposed to do, and it is legal.

In a privileged speech, Albayda condemned the statement made by Ambassador Huang.

"As the only municipality in the West Philippine Sea, it is the responsibility of the local government of Kalayaan to defend their countrymen from the Chinese maltreatment of Filipinos," said Albayda in his speech.

Albayda also asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to correct the Philippines' diplomatic relations with China.

The South China Sea has long been a source of tension between Manila and Beijing.

Beijing claims "indisputable sovereignty" over almost all of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea, as well as most of the islands within it. That includes the Spratlys, an archipelago consisting of 100 small islands and reefs also claimed in full or part by the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Manila, however, calls the area the West Philippine Sea.
https://www.manilatimes.net/2023/08/20/ ... le/1906093