The 10 members of the Association of South-East Asians Nations have abandoned attempts to agree a joint position on this week’s ruling dismissing China’s claims over the South China Sea, a media report said.

This indicates that the bloc has not rallied behind the Philippines’ claim, supported by an international tribunal on Tuesday, in the face of long-standing Chinese pressure over the territory issue.

“We gave up on issuing the Asean statement,” an unidentified Asean source was quoted as saying by Japan’s Kyodo News agency.

Laos, which holds Asean’s rotating chair, informed the members late yesterday that there would be no joint statement “because no consensus could be reached,” the source said.

The member nations had been discussing a possible joint statement since the Arbitral Tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on Tuesday upheld a case brought by the Philippines over the territory.

- dpa