Delay in release of joint communique due to 'standard practice' - DFA

The delay in the release of a joint communique during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministerial Meeting was due to a "standard practice," the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) clarified Sunday.

"The joint communique will be released as a package in all the Chairman's Statements. The joint communique is a consensus statement," Foreign Affairs spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar told reporters in a briefing in Pasay City.

This comes after no joint communique was released at the end of the meeting between member states of the ASEAN and China.

Diplomats from three ASEAN countries earlier said the joint communique was not released because Vietnam wanted the text to mention the need to avoid land reclamation and militarization in disputed territories in the South China Sea.

Bolivar said the release of the joint communique will be within the following days, after the meetings of high-level delegates from ASEAN states are concluded.

"I was informed this was more of a standard practice to release it at the same time," he said.

"I guess that will be Monday or Tuesday, in two days time," he added. —ALG, GMA News