The Philippines’ new president Rodrigo Duterte once vowed to ride a jet ski to plant his country’s flag on islands disputed with China — but he shows no sign of firing up the engine after Manila won landmark legal backing for its territorial claim.

His call instead for peaceful talks has been echoed across Southeast Asia and speaks volumes about the problems posed to the region by this week’s international tribunal ruling in The Hague. Several other countries in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations have territorial quarrels with Beijing, but none wants to spark an unwinnable war or alienate a superpower to which they are tied by aid, trade or cultural affinities.

Many, especially the territorial claimants, share a version of Mr Duterte’s conflict: they need to avoid provoking both domestic nationalists and Beijing. Chinese trade, investment and immigration have been an essential force in the rise of a region filled with ambitious but emerging economies.