China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea threatened to overshadow a biannual meeting of Southeast Asian leaders this weekend, while other issues, including the deteriorating conditions facing the stateless Rohingya minority were not raised for discussion.

On Sunday, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung accused China of “brazenly” triggering a maritime standoff in contested waters in the South China Sea and asked fellow Southeast Asian leaders to object to its latest move to place an oil rig in waters claimed by both Hanoi and Beijing. Six countries currently have competing territorial claims to the resource-rich seas, namely the Philippines and Vietnam, and confrontations between China and those two countries have grown increasingly tense in recent weeks.

A statement from leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, whose current secretary general Vietnam’s General Le Luong Minh, attempted to send a strong message about the bloc’s commitment to peaceful dialogue, but that did not appear to appease Hanoi. As The Wall Street Journal’s Chun Han Wong writes:

Advertisement

Although Asean foreign ministers on Saturday jointly expressed “serious concerns” over the latest confrontation, they shied from directly criticizing Beijing, and reiterated calls for restraint and greater urgency in multilateral talks on a code of conduct in the South China Sea.

On Sunday, many Asean leaders also didn’t blame China when discussing the latest tensions, diplomats said. A joint leaders’ declaration issued on the same day urged for peaceful dialogue in resolving disputes, without naming specific countries.

Analysts say the differences in tone underscored divisions between Asean members who prefer a tougher regional response against Beijing’s territorial claims, and others who are reluctant to antagonize a powerful economic partner.

Little progress has been made since Asean and China first signed a declaration in 2002 that set out broad principles on conflict resolution in the South China Sea. While there have been periodic talks on drafting a so-called code of conduct, China says it prefers to dead with territorial disputes on a country-by-country basis. Its Southeast Asian rivals and the U.S. prefer a multilateral approach — though the Asean bloc adheres to a strict philosophy of non-confrontation and decisions are made by consensus.

While leaders gathered in Myanmar, protesters in Vietnam assembled carrying banners with anti-China slogans, highlighting anger at the attempted deployment of an oil rig by a Chinese state-run energy company in waters off Vietnam.

That didn’t seem to make waves at the summit, nor did the conditions facing the millions of Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar. The stateless minority group is denied most rights, including access to health care, and tens of thousands have been living in temporary camps since violent clashes with the Buddhist majority in 2012 left them homeless.

The situation has become increasingly perilous since attacks on international aid agencies have prevented them from attending to the Rohingya’s needs for food and medical attention. But as The Wall Street Journal’s Shibani Mahtani writes, the issue was not on the discussion table.

The issue “has not been brought up and will not be brought up,” said Le Luong Minh, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

“We don’t see it as an issue that is a priority for this summit,” he added.

…

Analysts say the issue is turning more regional in nature, since violence and conditions in these camps have forced many Rohingya to seek refuge in neighboring countries, escaping in rickety fishing boats to Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and even as far as Australia, causing a wider refugee crisis for this stateless population.

The summit, they added—especially with Myanmar at the helm of Asean—could have been an opportunity for regional countries to exert some influence on the issue.

About Southeast Asia Real Time

Indonesia Real Time provides analysis and insight into the region, which includes Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei. Contact the editors at SEAsia@wsj.com.

Islamic State is providing “fresh oxygen” to extremist groups in Muslim-majority Indonesia, says a police official. What impact could the group known as ISIS have on Indonesia? And how is the government working to curb the danger? Here’s the short answer.