US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his commitment on Friday July 14, to stand together with Southeast Asian nations against any form of “coercion,” implicitly referring to Beijing. His remarks came as Indonesia, the host country of the talks, cautioned that the region should not become a battleground for global rivalries.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed unity Friday with Southeast Asian nations against “coercion”, in a thinly veiled reference to Beijing, as host Indonesia warned at talks that the region should not become a proxy for global rivalries.
Blinken met foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta at a gathering that also brought the top diplomats of China and Russia, the two main adversaries to the United States.
A day after his latest talks with China on managing tensions between the two powers, Blinken made a clear if unstated allusion to concerns shared with many in the region over Beijing.
Friction has been rising for years between Beijing and Southeast Asian nations, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines, over China’s sweeping claims to much of the South China Sea.
Maritime incidents have been on the rise and tensions have also soared over Taiwan, the self-governing democracy which Beijing claims and has not ruled out seizing by force.
But host Indonesia warned that ASEAN cannot become a proxy, as tensions flare not only between the United States and China but over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The annual closed-door talks have often been a raucous affair as big powers clash, but the United States and China have been working to prevent disagreements from spiraling out of control.
Blinken met Thursday evening for more than an hour and a half with China’s foreign policy supremo Wang Yi, less than a month after the top US diplomat paid a rare visit to Beijing.
Wang urged Washington to “work with China in the same direction” to improve ties and stop interfering in China’s affairs, according to a statement on Friday by the foreign ministry in Beijing.
While the United States has sought to increase communication with China, Blinken shunned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
US officials say Russia has no real interest in diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine, with Western powers instead ramping up military support to Kyiv.
ASEAN talks have been dominated by the crisis in Myanmar. The bloc refused to invite the country’s military junta, which seized power in February 2021.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
