South China Sea Strategies for other nations (Not China)

Vientiane (AFP) - Southeast Asian nations were deadlocked Sunday about how to confront China's territorial claims in the South China Sea as pressure from Beijing again drove a wedge between countries on the region's toughest security challenge.

Their gathering in the Laos capital is the first time regional players -- including China and the United States -- have met en masse since a UN-backed tribunal delivered a hammer blow to Beijing's claim to vast stretches of the sea.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) boasts four countries who have competing claims with Beijing to parts of the sea, and is fiercely divided on the issue.

Rival claimants have accused China of deftly forging alliances with smaller member countries like Laos, this year's host, and Cambodia through aid and loans to divide the once consensus-driven bloc.

Chinese pressure was blamed last month for a startling show of ASEAN discord when countries swiftly disavowed a joint statement released by Malaysia after an ASEAN-China meeting.

That statement had expressed alarm over Beijing's activities in the South China Sea. Cambodia and Laos were later fingered as being behind moves to block it.

Those divisions were on stark display once more in Vientiane on Sunday as regional foreign ministers met for talks.

Insiders accused Cambodia of scuppering moves to include a response to the tribunal ruling in a joint ASEAN communique -- by the end of the first day of talks there was still no agreement.

"We need to put our house in order," one diplomat involved in discussions told AFP Sunday. "But we still have not agreed on anything."

Another ASEAN diplomat added: "We remain deadlocked. We're back to the negotiating table."

The main sticking point was over whether to refer to the international tribunal ruling and if so how, a Southeast Asia diplomat told AFP.

Some countries are pushing to include a reference that urges all countries to fully "respect diplomatic and legal process", he said -- in line with statements released by the European Union, the US and Japan following the UN-backed decision.

Other countries are opposing any mention of the ruling.

Another diplomat said ministers would continue talks on Monday but warned that if a statement was published in the coming days it would likely be "really watered down".

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The impasse in Vientiane has led to fears of a repeat of a 2012 summit in Cambodia where the bloc failed to issue a joint statement for the first time in its history because of disagreements over the South China Sea.

A failure by ASEAN to respond to the tribunal will not do much to counter criticism that the bloc risks fading into obscurity as a talking shop with little real diplomatic clout.

The UN tribunal ruling earlier this month infuriated Beijing but was a victory for the Philippines, which brought the case, and for fellow ASEAN members Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia who also claim parts of the South China Sea.

The bloc's paralysis on how to respond comes as China ratchets up its rhetoric and military manoeuvres in the sea whilst hitting out at the US.

Washington says it takes no position on the territorial disputes but argues for free sea and air passage through what it considers international waters.

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Laos Monday morning. It is not yet clear whether he will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, who is also attending.

A State Department official over the weekend said the US would push for participants to ease tensions over the South China Sea and find common ground.

But Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin warned ASEAN against being influenced by outside powers, a clear rebuke to Washington.

"They (ASEAN) should in particular guard against the intervention in regional cooperation by big powers outside the region," he said according to the Xinhua news agency.

ASEAN boasts a diverse array of countries ranging from communist one-party states like Laos to the Islamic sultanate of Brunei, military junta-led Thailand and raucous democracies like Indonesia and the Philippines.

Its ability to deal with Beijing is seen as a test of whether it can jointly confront other pressing regional challenges outside of trade.

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BEIJING (AP) — China and the U.S. should deal with their differences candidly, U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, as ties were set to be tested after a tribunal invalidated Beijing's vast claims in the South China Sea.

Rice is the highest-level White House official to visit China since the July 12 ruling by an international tribunal delivered a victory to the Philippines, a U.S. ally, in its dispute with China.

Meeting Xi, Rice said the U.S. and China's interdependence meant that China's success was also in America's interest, and said the two nations have demonstrated that they can work together on major global issues such as climate change.

"At the same time, we are confronting our differences with candor and clarity and we believe that clarity produces predictability, and predictability produces stability," Rice said.

Xi told Rice that he was committed to building a good bilateral relationship on "the basis of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation."

The South China Sea received no mention in any of the opening remarks Rice and Chinese leaders made in front of reporters on Monday. Officials repeatedly acknowledged the importance of managing their disagreements.

Beijing has reacted angrily to the ruling by the Hague-based tribunal, decrying the panel as unfair and accusing Washington of interfering in the region. The U.S., whose navy patrols the waters, has called on China to abide by the ruling while also urging calm.

A statement issued later by the White House said that Rice discussed with China's top diplomat State Councilor Yang Jiechi U.S. views on human rights, maritime issues, and the treatment of U.S. businesses and non-governmental organizations operating in China.

It also said Rice met with Central Politics and Law Commission Secretary Meng Jianzhu and underscored the importance of abiding by cyber commitments reached by President Barack Obama and Xi when they met in Washington last September — when the two leaders agreed that neither government would support commercial cyber-theft.

Rice also met with top general Fan Changlong, who told her the sides still faced "obstacles and challenges."

"If we don't properly handle these factors, it will very likely disturb and undermine this steady momentum of our military-to-military relationship," said Fan, who serves as vice chairman of the ruling Communist Party's Central Military Commission.

Rice pointed to the increased communication between the sides that she said has reduced the possibility of conflict, even while their militaries operate in closer proximity than ever before.

Despite such progress, "we have challenges and differences to discuss and to manage," Rice said.

Rice conveyed a similar message when she and Yang met. Yang said that the sides had stable relations, but that there were still differences that had to be carefully managed.

China's island development in the South China Sea has inflamed regional tensions, including with nations that have competing claims to the land formations.

Beijing's officials see an American plot behind the arbitration case, considering that as just another sign of what China perceives as a relentless U.S. campaign to contain its rise to prominence. The United States says it takes no position on South China Sea sovereignty claims, but insists that freedom of navigation and overflight in the region be maintained.

Rice's visit is primarily aimed at preparing for U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to China in September to attend the leaders' summit of the Group of 20 major economies.

Rice will also visit Shanghai and meet with business executives to discuss challenges that U.S. businesses face while operating in China, according to a statement from the U.S. National Security Council.

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After months of confrontations in the South China Sea and days of high-stakes diplomacy, U.S. Secretary of State

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said Tuesday the time has arrived to "move away from the public tensions and turn the page."

Kerry met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Monday on the sidelines of a regional gathering of Southeast Asian countries. China had scored a diplomatic victory when a watered-down joint statement from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations did not criticize China for its actions in the South China Sea and did not mention a tribunal ruling that eviscerated China's historic claims to the waters.

Kerry said at a news conference that the U.S. is not taking sides on the substance of maritime disputes from countries such as the

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, which took the case to the tribunal in The Hague, but believes "rule of law must be upheld." China has said it will ignore the ruling, which it deems illegitimate. It leaned on Cambodia and other close allies to prevent ASEAN from making a critical statement, saying the disputes should be handled in one-on-one negotiations and not by the regional bloc.

But with The Hague ruling in the past, Kerry said he and Wang agreed it is time to lower the temperature. Kerry flies to Manila on Tuesday and is scheduled to meet with the Philippines new president,

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, on Wednesday. He said he will urge Duterte to negotiate with Beijing.

"Hopefully this can become a moment that we can all take advantage of, where we work out some of the modalities of how do you deal with the fishing? How do you deal with natural resources? How do you deal with the movement, the free movement of vessels and protect the rights of everybody?" Kerry said. "This could be a very important moment of shifting how this discussion is taking place and not being played out through public moves unilaterally and challenges, but in a constructive and thoughtful, engaged diplomatic manner."

Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay Jr. said Duterte had sent him to Laos with simple instructions. "I was just conscious of the fact that our president had said that whatever we will do, we will not violate the law, we will uphold the constitution and we will promote the paramount national interest," Yasay said.

Wang emphasized earlier that the Philippines' previous administration brought the case to the tribunal — suggesting an opening with Duterte, who took office in June.

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