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t is very true that in their joint statement, the foreign ministers of the 10-member ASEAN grouping did not explicitly ask China to abide by the recent ruling of The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration on the South China Sea (SCS) as most of the international community had expected. But as the “half-full, half-empty” old saying goes, it is also true that the ministers achieved a significant consensus on such a sensitive political and security issue that could otherwise divide the association.

Confrontational approach against China, especially after its recent humiliating defeat to ASEAN member the Philippines in The Hague, will only backfire. At least China now knows that it can no longer ignore the international reality.

There is no doubt that Indonesia, as the largest member of ASEAN, had played a crucial role in ensuring that ASEAN addressed the SCS issue in the first foreign ministerial meeting held since the launch of the ASEAN community late last December, but also voiced their common stance to the public.

All ASEAN members realized that they should not irritate China, their most important economic and trading partner. Four members — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — are also claimants to the seas while Indonesia is also embroiled in a dispute with China there. But now their voices are being heard by the international community.

Apart from their own meeting, the ministers met with their dialogue partners such as the US, China, Japan and South Korea, and hosted the ASEAN Regional Forum, which was attended by global powers such as Russia and India.

Together with Cambodia, host Laos had staunchly resisted any attempt to include the SCS territorial dispute in the official statement for fear it would anger China, their main financier of development. As the host in 2012, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former enemy of China, harshly defied the demands of some ASEAN members to insert the SCS conflict in the official position of ASEAN. This year ASEAN succeeded in avoiding such embarrassment.

“ASEAN breaks deadlock on South China Sea, Beijing thanks Cambodia for support,” Reuters news agency reported on Monday about the progress that was achieved by the ASEAN ministers on the dispute.

On the SCS issue, the ASEAN ministers issued an eight-point declaration that does not explicitly criticize China and chose a much softer tone in telling China what they actually want from the world’s second largest economy.

“We emphasized the importance of non-militarization and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities, including land reclamation that could further complicate the situation and escalate tensions in the South China Sea,” the joint statement says.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi deserves the credit for her successful efforts to convince her colleagues that ASEAN as a group should take a clear stance on the SCS, no matter the degree of their common position. Failure to be clear about it will be very damaging for ASEAN.

The next challenge is how a united ASEAN will help solve the issue.