Asean states assert selves against China

(First of two parts)

On March 18, officials from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) met in Singapore to resume consultations on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea that began last September. This meeting should have created an at–mosphere for the lowering of tensions in the South China Sea. At the least, China and the Asean claimant states could have been expected to avoid provocations while the co-nsultations were progressing.