While Southeast Asian leaders are expected to express “serious concern” over recent developments in the South China Sea during their summit on Saturday, they are likely to avoid directly criticizing China’s “escalation of activities” including its building of island fortresses in disputed waters. This was evident in the draft of the chairman’s statement for the 30th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, which mentioned nothing about China’s island-building activities or the ruling of a UN-backed arbitral court invalidating the Asian power’s expansive maritime claims.

Lee-Brago, P., Romero, A., & Romero, P. (2017, April 27). Asean statement to go easy on China. Philippine Star, pp. 1, 18.