VIENTIANE, Laos -- Southeast Asian nations opened a meeting of foreign ministers this morning, deeply divided on how to deal with China's territorial expansion in the South China Sea.
The foreign ministers of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have gathered for talks that are expected to focus on the economy, terrorism, security, cybersecurity and transnational cooperation. Then, leaders will hold a series of talks in the following days with the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand.
While the agenda for the meetings is extensive, the focus behind the scenes is expected to be on the July 12 decision by a Hague-based tribunal in a dispute between China and the Philippines. The Permanent Court of Arbitration found that China had no basis for the expansive claims it has made on territorial waters around the Philippines.
China has similar claims against other members of the Southeast Asian bloc, including Vietnam and Malaysia.
One avenue for the group to show its teeth is at its foreign ministers meeting, through a joint statement at the end, analysts said.
That's easier said than done, however. The bloc makes decisions by consensus, which means any country can veto a proposal. Efforts to challenge China more forcibly have been prevented by Cambodia, a staunch ally of China's, said diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.
Cambodia also blocked a reference to the dispute at the 2012 meeting, when foreign ministers failed to issue a statement for the first time in the bloc's history.
Laos, which also is an ally to China, has not taken sides because of its position as the meeting's host. In welcoming remarks today, Laotian Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith made no mention of the dispute.
Including a reference to the tribunal's ruling in the final communique "is a difficult issue that requires efforts of all parties," said Tran Viet Thai, deputy director of the Institute of Strategic Studies, a Vietnamese government think tank.
Still, the bloc will have to make a statement on the ruling, Thai said.
"They cannot avoid it at such a major and international event," he said. "The issue is how Laos will play their host role and how other countries contribute to the success of the meetings."
The South China Sea is dotted with reefs and rocky outcroppings that several governments claim, including China and the Philippines. The arbitration panel didn't take a position on which country owns the disputed territories. It did conclude that many of them are legally rocks, even if they've been built into islands, and that they therefore do not include the international rights to develop the surrounding waters. That and other findings invalidated much of what China has called its historic claims to the resource-rich sea.
To ease tensions, China, the Philippines and possibly other claimants must define what the ruling means for fishing, offshore oil and gas exploration, and military and other activities in the vast body of water that lies between the southern Chinese coast and the Philippine archipelago.
China has already objected to the Southeast Asian bloc's meeting and called for bilateral negotiations with the Philippines. In recent days, the Chinese military has staged live-firing exercises in the area and said it would begin regular aerial patrols over the sea. It also has asserted that it will not be deterred from continuing construction of its man-made islands.
Information for this article was contributed by Minh V. Tran and Jim Gomez of The Associated Press.
A Section on 07/24/2016