Diplomatic win for China as ASEAN drops reference to maritime court ruling
Source: Reuters
China scored a diplomatic victory on Monday as Southeast Asian nations dropped a U.S.-backed proposal to mention a landmark international court ruling against Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea in a joint statement.
A weekend deadlock between Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers was broken only when the Philippines withdrew its request to mention the ruling in the face of resolute objections from Cambodia, China's closest ASEAN ally.
China publicly thanked Phnom Penh for the support, which threw the regional bloc's meeting in the Laos capital of Vientiane into disarray.
The United States had earlier on Monday urged ASEAN to make a reference to the July 12 ruling by the U.N.-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration, in which U.S. ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory over China on the dispute.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-ruling-asean-idUSKCN1050F6
