Vietnam urged other Southeast Asian nations to take a stronger stand against Chinese expansions in the South China Sea, as a tense regional security forum began Saturday at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) with North Korea also under fire over its nuclear program. Ahead of the launch of the annual gathering of foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Vietnam made a bold play against China with a raft of suggested changes to a planned joint communique. It set the stage for what was expected to be a fiery few days of diplomacy in the Philippine capital, with the top diplomats from China, the United States, Russia and North Korea set to join their ASEAN and other Asia-Pacific counterparts for security talks from Sunday. The meetings will take place as the United Nations Security Council votes this weekend on a US-drafted resolution to toughen sanctions against North Korea to punish the isolated regime for its missile and nuclear tests. The United States said it would also seek to build unified pressure on the North at the Manila event -- known as the ASEAN Regional Forum -- and Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Pyongyang would receive a strong message. But on the South China Sea dispute -- one of Asia's other top powder keg issues -- there was far less consensus with Vietnam resisting efforts by the Philippines to placate Beijing, diplomats told AFP. ASEAN failed to issue the customary statement on Saturday, over what diplomats said was disagreement about whether to make oblique references to China’s rapid expansion of its defense capabilities on artificial islands in disputed waters. A final copy of the framework seen by The Associated Press also did not mention whether the code should be legally binding, which most ASEAN states demand but China opposes, or the extent of disputed areas to be covered by such a code. But there's also a view that we should give them an ultimatum," Cayetano said late Friday after discussing the issue with other foreign ministers. The South China Sea has long been the most divisive issue for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), with China’s influence looming large over its activities. On the territorial disputes in the South China Sea that embroil ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, the 10 foreign ministers on Saturday approved a framework of a long-proposed code of conduct aimed at preventing clashes in the disputed waters, Bolivar said. But, under President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines has sought to downplay the dispute with China in return for billions of dollars in Chinese investments and aid. Also on Sunday the foreign ministers of ASEAN and China adopted a negotiating framework for a code of conduct in the South China Sea, a move they hailed as progress but seen by critics as a tactic to buy China time to consolidate its maritime power.
During one of the meetings of the 50th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum at Manila, the foreign ministers of the member nations issued a communiqué "emphasizing the importance of non-militarisation and self-restraint," ending an impasse regarding the disputes on the South China Sea.