Monday, July 16, 2012

South China Sea negotiations damage ASEAN's reputation

China says "strategic pressure" from the United States is not conducive to Asia's development, nor to America's long term interests.

16 July 2012
ABC Radio Australia

A Xinhua editorial says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Asia trip, which took her to Afghanistan, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, was nothing more than an attempt at "diplomatic encirclement".

The statement by China's official government news agency came as the ASEAN ministerial meeting ended in disarray with no consensus on the wording of a final communique.

Agreement reached some days earlier on a joint code of conduct to deal with territorial disputes in the South China Sea appears to have quickly fallen apart, amid China's refusal to negotiate with ASEAN as a group.

Presenter: Richard Ewart
Speaker: Rory Medcalf, international security analyst, Lowy Institute

Click on the control below to listen to the audio program

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