Vientiane, Laos — Southeast Asian nations were deadlocked Sunday over how to confront saber-rattling in the South China Sea as pressure from Beijing again drove a wedge between countries on the region’s most contentious security issue. International policy experts, however, said the Philippines should take the lead in influencing Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members to take a more decisive step in the aftermath of a United Nations-backed tribunal’s ruling junking Beijing’s expansive claims to sovereignty over the South China Sea. The gathering in Vientiane is the first-time regional players – including China and the United States – have met en masse since a UN-backed tribunal delivered a hammer blow to Beijing’s claim to vast swathes of the strategic sea. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) boasts four countries which have competing claims with Beijing over parts of the strategic sea and is fiercely divided on the [...]
