They already said that last year, after China boasted it had co-opted Cambodia, Laos and Brunei so Asean will never have a South China Sea consensus. Her hat represents the Philippines navy boat 'Sierra Madre', now half-submerged in the Spratly Islands. An “Asean official source” said unidentified Lao officials decided not to issue a statement “because no consensus could be reached”. Unless some nation beginning with “T” can inject spinal rigidity in Asean, China will kick more sand in the face of the 95-pound weakling and further damage Asean’s world respect and influence. Mr Don and Thailand (and Mr Obama) want Asean to step up and push China into negotiating and then signing a code of conduct for the South China Sea.

Source: Bangkok Post July 16, 2016 21:11 UTC