The failure to come to terms on a joint communique is unprecedented in the history of ASEAN ministerial meetings , says Carlyle Thayer, a specialist on ASEAN affairs at the University of New South Wales.
Thayer also says the failure to draft even a basic statement this week raises more fundamental questions for ASEAN.
“ASEAN has stood for being the guardian of South East Asia’s regional autonomy. Trying to provide the insulation against the intrusion of great powers," Thayer said.
"What this indicates is that China has managed to break that insulation and influence one particular country. That’s going to affect any issues that begin to touch on China.”
Thayer says the issue may have exposed a rift among the ASEAN countries that have territorial disputes with China, and those that rely on China for trade. Cambodia has received hundreds of millions of dollars in soft loans and investment from China.
Still, ASEAN ministers downplayed the issue while acknowledging their concern Friday. Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa’s comments Friday were more tempered after he called the failure to reach a joint statement “irresponsible”, just a day earlier. He told reporters that the meetings had made him more inspired to push forward on an elusive ASEAN Code of Conduct, or COC, on the South China Sea dispute.
“If anything out of this meeting I am even more determined to push for the COC, so all these side happenings becomes more contextual," Natalegawa said. "Instead of the incidents, the tail wagging the dog, we should have a sense of purpose. We should move forward rather than being sidetracked by incidents.”
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan stressed the need for members to move quickly on repairing what damage has been done.
“I can’t lay the blame on anyone,
declared Pitsuwan. "I think it’s a collective responsibility for us to try to find the solution to this. I consider it a major hiccup. And we will have to recoup from this hiccup very quick and very fast.”
Cambodia remains in the chair for the next ASEAN leaders’ summit, scheduled for November.
http://www.voanews.com/content/south-china-sea-rifts-exposed-as-asean-meeting-concludes/1404171.html