Discord in Asean, delight in China
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As Asean members ponder the implications of their bruising foreign ministers summit in Cambodia last week, the elephant - or some may say panda - in the room that caused the discord is in celebratory mode.
Major Chinese newspapers claimed victory for Beijing in the face-off in Phnom Penh over its territorial disputes with neighbouring states and slammed these states for being “troublemakers”.
“The country used to be overwhelmingly worried about the consequences of insisting on its interests. Now it learns it will not become worse off for it,” said the Global Times in its editorial.
Instead, the nationalistic tabloid and other Chinese newspapers mocked the opposing countries for “disgracing themselves”.
The Philippines and Vietnam had wanted to include recent tussles with Beijing in the South China Sea in a joint statement at last week’s Asean Ministerial Meeting.
Most of the 10 Asean countries favoured the inclusion, but host Cambodia, which enjoys close ties with China, blocked it.
It led to Asean failing to produce a joint statement for the first time in its 45-year history.
But China Daily dismissed the debacle. “It is certain that Asean will continue to focus on shoring up regional development and prosperity even without a declaration,” it said in its editorial.
“But if it intends to play a bigger role in regional and international affairs, it needs to stop troublemakers taking its meetings hostage.” The English-language paper, China’s mouthpiece overseas, also warned claimant states to stop provoking China in the disputed sea.
“It is a misjudgement to think that China will continue to tolerate such reckless moves and not safeguard its maritime territory.”
On Sunday, Xinhua state news agency accused US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of “meddling” in the disputes.
The agency also reported that 30 fishing vessels reached the disputed Spratly Islands on the same day. The largest fleet to sail from Hainan island, it is protected by Yuzheng 310, a fishery patrol ship.
Meanwhile, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he was disappointed over developments at the Asean summit saying it “raises a misperception or confusing picture of Asean”.
Calling on all sides to refrain from blaming the Philippines or China for what happened, he said Asean had another shot at coming to a common position at the leaders’ summit in November.
He has instructed Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa to consult other Asean states to ensure that the grouping remains central to any decisions affecting the South China Sea issue, he added.
On Monday, the Chinese media also took aim at the ongoing dispute with Japan over the Diaoyu islands, called Senkaku in Japan. Last week, Chinese vessels entered waters near the islands twice after Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Japan could buy the islands from their private Japanese owners.
“In addition to growing public passion for protecting Diaoyu, China is equipped with more countermeasures against Japan’s ploys,” said the Global Times, referring to the Chinese ships.
But such growing assertiveness, especially in the South China Sea, will lead to more problems for Beijing, said analyst Zhang Mingliang from Jinan University.
“Within China, we feel that the smaller countries are ganging up and bullying us. So we are just defending our sovereignty,” he said. “But to the rest of the world, we are a big country bullying small countries. Such contradictions would lead to the disputes worsening.”
