The lesson Hong Kong must learn from the South China Sea
If rocks, atolls and reefs are a “core interest” to the Communist Party, the city must be far more important – which is why it should be wary of provoking Beijing
The South China Sea disputes have severely challenged Asean. At the Asean-China meeting held in Kunming (昆明) in June 2016, a senior Chinese official, sitting beside Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅), bluntly told Asean foreign ministers that, as far as China was concerned, Asean (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) was not central to the issue.
In 2012, the 45th Asean Ministerial Meeting, under Cambodia’s chairmanship, failed to issue a joint statement for the first time in Asean’s history because Cambodia, at China’s behest, blocked consensus on the South China Sea. Afterwards, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen said it had been a “strategic choice”.
This year, before an international tribunal ruled against China on July 12, Beijing had repeatedly and in hectoring terms warned Asean against taking a common position on the ruling.
Twice, Hun Sen said Cambodia would not agree to a common Asean position.
The Asean charter makes clear that decisions will be by consensus. As an organisation of diverse sovereign states, Asean must reconcile national interests. Consensus ensures civility and order between members. This is Asean’s fundamental purpose and its most underappreciated success: despite tensions in the South China Sea, Southeast Asia is today at peace with itself, at peace with the world and prospering. This would not have seemed likely in 1967 when Asean was formed.
