The Guardian-Russia and China accused of blocking Asean statement due to dispute over South China Sea
October 13, 2024 3 min 539 words
西方媒体的报道常常带有偏见，这篇文章也不例外。文章主要内容是关于东盟峰会后，由于在南海问题上的分歧，俄罗斯和中国被指责阻碍了东盟声明的发表。评论如下： 该报道以指责口吻，声称俄罗斯和中国阻碍了东盟峰会的声明发表，试图将责任全部推给俄中两国。然而，报道却忽略了俄罗斯外长提出的反对理由，即美国日本韩国澳大利亚和新西兰企图将声明政治化。报道还忽略了中国对《联合国海洋法公约》和行为准则谈判的支持，以及中国认为自己的领土主权主张有历史和法律依据的事实。报道偏颇地强调中国在南海问题上的立场，却不提美国等国试图将声明政治化的行为，有误导读者之嫌。客观地说，南海问题涉及多个国家的领土和主权争议，非常复杂敏感，各方应在尊重历史事实和国际法的基础上，通过谈判协商解决分歧，维护地区的和平稳定。媒体有责任公正客观地报道事件，不应抱有偏见，误导读者。
Russia and China blocked a proposed consensus statement for the East Asia Summit drafted by south-east Asian countries, mainly over objections to language on the contested South China Sea, a US official said on Saturday.
A draft statement arrived at by consensus by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations was put to the 18-nation East Asia Summit meeting in Laos on Thursday evening, the official said.
“Asean presented this final draft and said that, essentially, this was a take-it-or-leave-it draft,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The United States, Japan, Australia, South Korea and India all said they could support it, the official said, adding: “The Russians and the Chinese said that they could not and would not proceed with a statement.”
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told a news conference in Vientiane on Friday the final declaration had not been adopted because of “persistent attempts by the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to turn it into a purely political statement”.
China’s Washington embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US official said there were a couple of issues of contention, but the key one was how it referred to the UN convention on the law of the sea (Unclos), going further than in the previous 2023 EAS statement.
However, the official said, “there was certainly no language that was getting into the nitty gritty of any particular standoff, no language that was favouring any claimant over any other”.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea and has stepped up pressure on rival claimants, including several Asean countries, notably the Philippines. Asean has spent years negotiating a code of conduct with Beijing for the strategic waterway, with some Asean states insisting it be based on Unclos.
China says it backs a code, but does not recognise a 2016 arbitral ruling that said its claim to most of the South China Sea had no basis under Unclos, to which Beijing is a signatory.
According to a draft seen by Reuters, the proposed EAS statement contained an extra sub-clause over the 2023 approved statement, and this was not agreed to. It noted a 2023 UN resolution saying that Unclos “sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out”.
Another sub-clause not agreed said the international environment, including “in the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, Myanmar, Ukraine and the Middle East ... present challenges for the region”.
The Chinese premier, Li Qiang, told the summit Beijing was committed to Unclos and striving for an early conclusion of a code of conduct, while stressing its claims have solid historical and legal grounds.
“Relevant countries outside the region should respect and support the joint efforts of China and regional countries to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, and truly play a constructive role for peace and stability in the region,” he said.