The Chairman's Statement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which was released Sunday, April 30, did not tackle the Philippines' legal victory against Beijing over the South China Sea, and China's island building activities there.
This was according to the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte after he told the media that he welcomes joint military exercise with President Xi Jinping.
ASEAN member states Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have claims that overlap those of China in the South China Sea through which much worldwide commerce passes, and where marine resources, and potentially oil and gas deposits, are abundant.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte avoided mentioning Beijing or the South China Sea row as he opened the annual meeting - the first major worldwide event he has hosted since taking office in June a year ago.
"We read the chairman's statement from the 30th ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) summit in Manila concerning the South China Sea issue".
The leaders also reiterated their "full support for the denuclearizaton of the Korean Peninsula" and urged "concerned parties to explore all avenues for immediate dialogue", it says.
China called the ruling a sham and has moved to block it from being discussed at the summit or mentioned in the standard communique issued at the end of the meetings.
When Cambodia hosted the meeting a year ago, the country - which has strong economic ties to Beijing - controversially blocked a proposed joint ASEAN foreign ministers' communique referring to the global tribunal's ruling against China.
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On February 4, the Chinese Foreign Ministry rebuked US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis during his trip to Japan for stating that a treaty between Japan and the US also covered a group of islands, known as Diaoyu, which lie in the South China Sea.
China can execute their military exercises in Philippines.
Two Asean diplomatic sources earlier on Saturday told Reuters that Chinese embassy representatives in Manila had sought to influence the content of the communique. It noted some leaders' concerns about "recent developments".
He also denied that China attempted to influence the Asean heads of states to ensure that the worldwide court's ruling invalidating its "historic rights" to the South China Sea and the non-reclamation and non-militarization activities would be removed from the joint statement.
"We also share your country's concerns on the devastating effects of drugs upon society and I understand your personal resolve in combating it", Bolkiah said as Duterte hosted him at the presidential palace on Thursday.
China's attempts to assert its dominance over the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes that carries more than $5 trillion in annual trade, have in the past angered Southeast Asian nations with competing maritime claims such as Vietnam and the Philippines.
It will be hard to say what may happen and be decided in a meeting of this magnitude with so many powerful and strong-willed nations, but the Philippines led by President Duterte may well play the role it has just played in the recently ended ASEAN Summit - that of consensus builder, seeker of common ground for agreement in the face of seemingly implacable situations.
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