Asean fails to reach common ground on China row

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Southeast Asian diplomats failed to reach common ground Friday on how to deal with a touchy territorial dispute involving China, as a regional conference ended without a joint statement for the first time in the bloc's history.

The failure to come up with the joint statement, unprecedented in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' 45-year history, underscores deep divisions within the 10-member bloc amid conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea involving four of its members plus China and Taiwan.

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand said the Philippines and Vietnam wanted the statement to include a reference to the recent standoff between China and the Philippines at a shoal in the South China Sea claimed by both countries.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs blamed host Cambodia for "consistently opposing any mention of the Scarborough Shoal at all" and for announcing that a joint communique cannot be issued.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said his government, which has close ties with China, does not support any side in the disputes.

He said the failure to issue a statement lies with all ASEAN members, not just Cambodia.

"I requested that we issue the joint communique without mention of the South China Sea dispute ... but some member countries repeatedly insisted to put the issue of the Scarborough Shoal," he told reporters.

"I have told my colleagues that the meeting of the ASEAN foreign ministers is not a court, a place to give a verdict about the dispute," he said.

ASEAN's members announced earlier this week that they had drafted a set of rules governing maritime rights and navigation, and procedures for when governments disagree. But China is not a member of the group and did not agree to anything.

The ASEAN countries presented their proposal to China at this week's conference in Cambodia's capital, though Beijing will probably want to water down any language that ties its hands.

The standoff between China and the Philippines in the Scarborough Shoal began in April when the Philippines accused Chinese fishermen of poaching in its exclusive economic zone, including the shoal. During the tensions, both sides sent government ships to the area, though both have since withdrawn vessels.

Vietnam has protested a recent announcement by the China National Offshore Oil Corp. opening nine oil and gas lots for international bidders in areas overlapping with existing Vietnamese exploration blocks. Vietnam says the lots lie entirely within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.