Beijing faces an international dressing down Friday at a gathering of leaders from across Asia and Europe after it vehemently rejected a UN-backed tribunal’s dismissal of its extensive South China Sea claims. At a briefing this week, Chinese assistant foreign minister Kong Xuanyou said that ASEM was “not an appropriate venue” to discuss the South China Sea issue. Vietnam, whose own South China Sea dispute with Beijing may also benefit from the PCA ruling, will also talk about “all kinds of issues” at the summit, its foreign minister Pham Binh Minh said. But this year’s gathering in Mongolia is the first major international conference since the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague ruled that Beijing’s claims to much of the strategically vital South China Sea have no legal foundation. The criticism comes as Beijing, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, seeks a greater presence on the global diplomatic stage.

Source: Thanhnien News July 15, 2016 03:11 UTC