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Laos: Struggling to get out of China’s shadow
Laos: Struggling to get out of China’s shadow
Mon, 1 Aug 2016 – Laos probably hoped for more from last week’s ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
In the lead up to the event held in the Laos capital of Vientiane, many wondered if the South China Sea dispute would wreak the same havoc as it did at the Cambodia meeting four years ago, when a failure to agree meant hat, for the first time in 45 years, no joint communique was issued.
This time around, a joint communique was agreed upon. The recent UN arbitration on the South China Sea case brought by the Philippines against China was not mentioned, as Cambodia opposed the proposed wording. The statement did, however, cite the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and as such was a partial win for the Philippines and Vietnam. Read More?