China and Southeast Asian nations agreed on Wednesday, to set up a communications hotline that would be operational soon, in an effort to avoid unintentional military clashes in the South China Sea, Xinhua reported.
Political observers said the agreement, emphasized the difficulty in solving the maritime territorial dispute among the organization's member-countries and China.
The pact did not mention the ruling of Hague-based arbitration court that rejected Beijing's claims. China has said that it does not recognize the court's dominion and had dismissed the verdict as "null and void."
The Philippines and claimant-countries Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei, and other ASEAN countries have issued a statement affirming their respect for international law.
The decision to omit any discussion of the recent Hague court ruling during the summit reportedly pleased Beijing, but it dealt a setback for Japan and the United States who both have called on China to abide by the ruling.
"China will be satisfied with the outcome, as will ASEAN," according to Ian Storey, Southeast Asia political expert at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
Storey said the limited coverage of the contract reflects the claimant-countries' shift in interest from upholding the court ruling to maintaining regional stability in the disputed area.
A spokesperson for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that he raised some points on matters related to the South China Sea to his regional counterparts .
"The Philippines, we are a smaller country, a poorer country. You have to be conservative. And now we're in a position of strength because of the arbitral ruling," said Martin Andanar, spokesman for the Duterte administration.
He, however, pointed out that Duterte vows on holding bilateral talks with China as well as working cordially with everyone to resolve the dispute.
Last month, Fidel Ramos, was sent by Duterte as his special envoy to negotiate with China to pave the way for possible formal talks to begin between the two sides.
The Philippine President hoped the formal talks would begin within this year, however, Chinese authorities said they would choose for the talks to start earlier.
