So far, China’s reaction to all of this new activity has been to dig in its heels and insist on addressing its territorial disputes with ASEAN’s militarily inferior members on a bilateral basis. In November, China foiled ASEAN members’ efforts to create a multilateral forum and an agreed code of conduct to govern economic and security activity in the South China Sea.
迄今为止，中国对所有新情况的反应是毫不妥协，坚持与在军事上远逊于自己的东盟成员国在双边基础上解决领土争端。11月，中国挫败了东盟成员国成立多边论坛并签订共同行为准则规范南海经济安全活动的努力。这样不仅导致东盟集团陷入分裂，同时沉重打击了东盟到2015年底转化为类似欧盟的区域性集团的信心。