US official accuses Russia, China of blocking Asia leaders' statement

washington — 

Russia and China blocked a projected statement connection for the East Asia Summit drafted by Southeast Asian countries, chiefly implicit objections to connection connected the contested South China Sea, a U.S. authoritative told Reuters connected Saturday.

A draught connection arrived astatine by statement by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations was enactment to the 18-nation East Asia Summit gathering successful Laos connected Thursday evening, the authoritative said.

"ASEAN presented this last draught and said that, essentially, this was a take-it-or-leave-it draft," the authoritative said connected information of anonymity.

The United States, Japan, Australia, South Korea and India each said they could enactment it, the authoritative said, adding: "The Russians and the Chinese said that they could not and would not proceed with a statement."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a quality league successful Vientiane connected Friday the last declaration had not been adopted due to the fact that of "persistent attempts by the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to crook it into a purely governmental statement."

China's Washington embassy did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

The U.S. authoritative said determination were a mates of issues of contention, but the cardinal 1 was however it referred to the United Nations Convention connected the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), going further than successful the erstwhile 2023 EAS statement.

However, the authoritative said, "there was surely nary connection that was getting into the nitty gritty of immoderate peculiar standoff, nary connection that was favoring immoderate claimant implicit immoderate other."

China claims astir each of the South China Sea and has stepped up unit connected rival claimants, including respective ASEAN countries, notably the Philippines. ASEAN has spent years negotiating a Code of Conduct with Beijing for the strategical waterway, with immoderate ASEAN states insisting it beryllium based connected UNCLOS.

China says it backs a codification but does not admit a 2016 arbitral ruling that said its assertion to astir of the South China Sea had nary ground nether UNCLOS, to which Beijing is simply a signatory.

According to a draught seen by Reuters, the projected EAS connection contained an other sub-clause implicit the 2023 approved statement, and this was not agreed to. It noted a 2023 U.N. solution saying that UNCLOS "sets retired the ineligible model wrong which each activities successful the oceans and seas indispensable beryllium carried out."

Another sub-clause not agreed said the planetary environment, including "in the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, Myanmar, Ukraine and the Middle East ... contiguous challenges for the region."

Chinese Premier Li Qiang told the acme Beijing was committed to UNCLOS and striving for an aboriginal decision of a Code of Conduct, portion stressing its claims person coagulated humanities and ineligible grounds.

"Relevant countries extracurricular the portion should respect and enactment the associated efforts of China and determination countries to support bid and stableness successful the South China Sea, and genuinely play a constructive relation for bid and stableness successful the region," helium said.