Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said Japan would press for the ASEM meeting to issue a joint statement condemning the nuclear test, apart from the conference's normal closing statement.

VOA: standard.2009.05.25

Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's self-appointed president, and Atal Behari Vajpayee, India's prime minister, could not agree on any form of joint statement, or even to hold a press conference explaining what had gone wrong.

ECONOMIST: India and Pakistan: Hope among the ruins | The

In fact, Gorbachev went to great lengths in the press conference to distance himself from the implication that the joint statement represented a priori Soviet acquiescence to any military options if the sanctions do not work.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | Post-Mortem On The Helsinki Summit: Soviet Cooperation Like This We Can��t Afford