Southeast Asian leaders call for South China Sea disputes to be resolved without threats or force

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Leaders of Southeast Asian countries met in Melbourne on Wednesday at the ASEAN Australia Summit, with an increasingly assertive China and a humanitarian crisis in Myanmar likely to be high on the agenda. " (Mar. 6)

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Southeast Asian leaders are meeting in Melbourne on Wednesday, Mar.5, and have been getting up close with one of Australia’s most recognizable native animals, the koala. The leaders each had a chance to pat and feed a koala bear after meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. (Mar. 6)

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Lao, Sonexay Siphandone, at the conclusion of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

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ASEAN Foreign Ministers react during a family photo at Government House during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. Pictured from left: Vietnam Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bui Thanh Son, Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, Cambodia Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sok Chenda Sophea, Malaysia Foreign Minister, Dato’ Seri Utama Haji Mohamad bin Haji Hasan, Laos PDR Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Saleumxay Kommasith, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, Indonesia Minister for Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, Brunei Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dato Erywan Yusof, Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Enrique A Manalo, Thailand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Parnpree Bahidda-Nukara, Timor-Leste Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Bendito dos Santos Freitas (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

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In this image made from video provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4, center, is hit by two Chinese coast guard water canon blasts, causing injuries to multiple crew members as they tried to enter the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, in the disputed South China Sea, Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and multiple Filipino crew members were injured in high-seas confrontations Tuesday as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for a summit that was expected to touch on Beijing’s aggression at sea. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

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Philippine coast guard personnel on a rubber boat pass by a Chinese coast guard ship after conducting medical treatment to injured crew members of Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 which got hurt during a water canon incident in the disputed South China Sea Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and four Filipino crew members were injured in high-seas confrontations Tuesday as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for a summit that was expected to touch on Beijing’s aggression at sea. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

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Prime Minister of Lao, Sonexay Siphandone, left, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hold a joint press conference at the conclusion of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

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Members of ASEAN pose for a family photo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, March 5, 2024. From left, Secretary General of ASEAN Dr Kao Kim Hourn, the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Samdech Hun Manet, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Lao, Sonexay Siphandone, the Indonesian President Joko Widodo, the Sultan of Brunei, Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Prime Minister of Thailand, Srettha Thavisin, and the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmao. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

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Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4, left, is hit by two Chinese coast guard water canons as they tried to enter the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, in the disputed South China Sea Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and four Filipino crew members were injured in high-seas confrontations Tuesday as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for a summit that was expected to touch on Beijing’s aggression at sea. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

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The sun rises while a suspected Chinese militia ship blocks Philippine coast guard ship, not shown, in the disputed South China Sea Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and four Filipino crew members were injured in high-seas confrontations Tuesday as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for a summit that was expected to touch on Beijing’s aggression at sea. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

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Members of ASEAN pose for a photo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, March 5, 2024. From left, the Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Lao, Sonexay Siphandone, the Sultan of Brunei, Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Samdech Hun Manet, the Indonesian President Joko Widodo, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Thailand, Srettha Thavisin, the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmao, and the Secretary General of ASEAN Dr Kao Kim Hourn. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

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Journalists report as a Chinese coast guard ship blocks the path of Philippine coast guard BRP Sindangan as they tried to enter the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, in the disputed South China Sea Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and multiple Filipino crew members were injured in high-seas confrontations Tuesday as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for a summit that was expected to touch on Beijing’s aggression at sea. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

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Prime Minister of Lao, Sonexay Siphandone, left, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shakes hands following a joint press conference at the conclusion of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

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A Chinese coast guard boat moves near the Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 (in green) after it was hit by their water canon blast causing injuries to multiple crew members as they tried to enter the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, in the disputed South China Sea Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and multiple Filipino crew members were injured in high-seas confrontations Tuesday as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for a summit that was expected to touch on Beijing’s aggression at sea. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

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Prime Minister of Lao, Sonexay Siphandone, speaks at a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the conclusion of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

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Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4, foreground, is hit by two Chinese coast guard water canons as they tried to enter the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, in the disputed South China Sea Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and four Filipino crew members were injured in high-seas confrontations Tuesday as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for a summit that was expected to touch on Beijing’s aggression at sea. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

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Prime Minister of Lao, Sonexay Siphandone, left, shake hands with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

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Philippine coast guard personnel alight from resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 after treating injuries on multiple crew members as their ship was hit by Chinese coast guard water cannon blast, while it tries to enter the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, in the disputed South China Sea Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and multiple Filipino crew members were injured in high-seas confrontations Tuesday as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for a summit that was expected to touch on Beijing’s aggression at sea. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

By ROD McGUIRK

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s prime minister expressed concerns Wednesday over “unsafe and destabilizing behavior” in the South China Sea, citing the collision between Chinese and Philippine ships the previous day.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s remarks came as his country wrapped up a three-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that failed to explicitly call China out over a series of incidents in the disputed waters.

Instead, ASEAN leaders urged for disputes to be resolved through dialogue rather than threats, a day after Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea and four Filipino crew members were injured in the confrontations.

Chinese and Philippines officials traded blame for the incident. The disputed area has been site of several tense skirmishes between Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships last year.

Albanese, who co-chaired the summit with Laos Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, said Tuesday’s clash was concerning for Australia.

“It is dangerous and it creates risks of miscalculation, which can then lead to escalation,” he said.

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Australia had backed the Philippines’ push to have the ASEAN declaration adopted at the end of summit cite a 2016 arbitration ruling in The Hague, Netherlands, that invalidated Beijing’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea, which conflict with the claims of several ASEAN states. China did not accept the ruling.

The Melbourne Declaration, released late Wednesday, did not mention the 2016 ruling. The summit was held in the Australian city to mark 50 years since Australia became the first external ASEAN partner.

The declaration called for peaceful resolution of disputes through legal and diplomatic processes “without resorting to the threat or use of force” in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“We encourage all countries to avoid any unilateral actions that endanger peace, security and stability in the region,” it said.

Albanese said compromises had to made to find words that ASEAN leaders at the summit could agree on.

“There is a general recognition that we need to make sure that activity in the South China Sea alleviates any tension and doesn’t add to it,” Albanese said.

Deakin University Southeast Asia expert Damien Kingsbury said the declaration’s failure to explicitly mention China was a nod to countries that are close to Beijing — Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar — and also to Malaysia’s more conciliatory approach to the Chinese.

It’s “a veiled criticism of China, which is about as strong as consensus would allow,” Kingsbury said.

Leaders agreed at an ASEAN summit in Indonesia last September to accelerate a negotiation process with China with a goal of finalizing a South China Sea code of conduct within three years. Such a code would aim to prevent risky and provocative behavior.

That summit was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the longest serving ASEAN leader after Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, said on Tuesday that finalizing that code would take some time with difficult issues relating yet to be resolved.

The ongoing violence and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, an ASEAN state where a military junta seized control in 2021, have also loomed over the summit, with the declaration saying the leaders “strongly condemn the continued acts of violence.”

Myanmar was officially excluded from the Melbourne gathering. However, neither the Australian government nor the Myanmar Embassy in Australia would comment on reports that Myanmar was still represented at the summit by Australia-based diplomat Thet Tun.

Around 200 protesters had demonstrated outside the summit on Monday against any Myanmar representative being present.

East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão also attended the summit as an official observer after ASEAN agreed in principle to admit Asia’s newest country.