CHINA BREACHES INNER SANCTUMThe failure touched on a long-standing ASEAN fear, says Carlyle Thayer, an emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defense Force Academy -- that lack of unity would allow foreign powers to exploit its differences.
"This is the first major breach of the dyke of regional autonomy," he said. "China has now reached into ASEAN's inner sanctum and played on intra-ASEAN divisions."
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has angrily rejected suggestions that China has "bought" Cambodia's support over the South China Sea dispute. China's foreign direct investment in Cambodia was $1.2 billion in 2011, almost 10 times that of the United States, according to an estimate by the government's Council for the Development of Cambodia. Chinese investment and trade has also surged in neighboring Myanmar and Laos.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen
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