ASEAN's joint statement on the East Sea is a mistake?

Indonesia said the text issued by Malaysia was not a joint ASEAN statement and there was confusion in the incident.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and ASEAN foreign ministers at the conference. Photo: AFP

The text released by Malaysia was merely a "media guideline" for ASEAN ministers to refer to at a post-meeting press conference, not a final joint statement agreed upon by the countries, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told AFP.

In a statement issued late yesterday by Malaysia's foreign ministry, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) warned that recent actions in maritime disputes "risk undermining peace".

The statement described “a candid exchange” – language that hints at a diplomatic confrontation between ASEAN foreign ministers and their Chinese counterparts at the meeting in Kunming, China.

Mr Nasir said today that the meeting of Southeast Asian and Chinese foreign ministers had run over its scheduled time, meaning the press conference was cancelled and some ASEAN foreign ministers had to leave immediately.

“The ASEAN foreign ministers did not have a chance to discuss how they would disclose the contents of the media guidelines to the press,” Mr. Nasir said.

Malaysian officials have not commented, but the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta said no official statement was issued after the meeting.

Analysts have offered different theories on the matter, with one suggesting that ASEAN withdrew the statement after coming under pressure from China, while another suggested that Malaysia appeared to have made a mistake.

Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia analyst at Ipek University in Türkiye, said the incident appeared to be a mistake on Malaysia’s part. “I think ASEAN wanted to wait until the arbitral tribunal ruled before making any joint statement,” Welsh said, referring to the Philippines’ case against China’s claims in the South China Sea before the International Court of Arbitration, which is expected to rule this month.

Meanwhile, Southeast Asia expert Carl Thayer said that China may have objected to the words the ASEAN Secretariat used in the joint statement. "This led the ASEAN Secretariat to retract the previous statement," he said.

According to VNE