Southeast Asian foreign ministers failed to release a customary communiqué at the end of a high-level meeting in Manila on Saturday after what diplomats said was a lack of consensus about how to refer to disputes in the South China Sea. The South China Sea has long been the thorniest issue for the Asociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with different opinions among ts 10 members on how to address China's assertiveness and its building and heavy arming of its artificial islands in disputed waters. On the other hand, Cambodia expressed concern over the issuance by the ASEAN foreign ministers of a separate statement criticizing North Korea's two ICBM tests last month.

Asean communiqué stalls on sea row. (2017, August 7). Philippine Star, pp. 1, 8.