General view of the East Asia Foreign Ministers’ meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) annual ministerial meeting, being held in Vientiane on July 26, 2016. Southeast Asian nations on July 25 ducked direct criticism of Beijing over its claims to the South China Sea, in a diluted statement produced after days of disagreement that gives the superpower a diplomatic victory. (HOANG DINH NAM / AFP)