Summary by Geopolist | Istanbul Center for Geopolitics:
China has called on ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries to resist influences from the US and NATO in the region. This plea comes amid growing concerns over increased Western involvement in Southeast Asia, which China views as a threat to regional stability.
At a recent three-day ASEAN meeting, member states expressed concerns about the growing US-China rivalry impacting the region. The joint statement revealed deep divisions within ASEAN regarding how to address China’s increasing assertiveness and the broader geopolitical tensions.
China’s Position: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized the US and NATO for their role in escalating tensions in the Indo-Pacific. He urged ASEAN countries to oppose NATO’s involvement and warned that US-led strategies are counterproductive to regional peace. Wang also condemned any potential new arbitration cases on the South China Sea and reiterated China’s rejection of previous international rulings on its maritime claims.
US and Allies: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized China’s actions in the South China Sea, and discussions with other international figures highlighted differing views on regional security and stability. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul emphasized the importance of a rules-based order and freedom of navigation.
ASEAN’s Challenges: ASEAN members are divided on how to balance their economic ties with China while managing external influences. There is concern over becoming overly dependent on China or antagonizing it, creating a complex diplomatic landscape.
Implications: China’s push for ASEAN resistance to US and NATO influence highlights the growing geopolitical competition in Southeast Asia and underscores the region’s strategic importance in global power dynamics. Experts warn that the growing polarization between the US and China could undermine ASEAN’s central role in regional affairs. The internal divisions within ASEAN and external pressures may lead to increased cooperation between the US and its allies and could exacerbate regional tensions.
Outlook: The article highlights the difficulties ASEAN faces in maintaining unity and neutrality amidst rising global rivalries, with members struggling to navigate between competing superpowers.
Read more below.
China calls on Asean to resist US, Nato moves in ‘zone of peace, freedom, neutrality’
Caught up in the deepening US-China rivalry for regional dominance, the 10 Asean member states expressed their “concerns” in a joint statement at the end of the three-day gathering on Saturday.
Observers said the statement underlined deep divisions within the grouping.
Maria Thaemar Tana, a non-resident fellow at the Stratbase ADR Institute in Manila, said China’s assertive behaviour has strained relations with Southeast Asian neighbours, which remained deeply divided over how to cope with an increasingly confident Beijing.
“Some countries are cautious about directly opposing China but are also wary of becoming too dependent on it. This situation forces these countries to carefully balance economic ties with China while preventing its dominance,” she said.
Wang on Saturday singled out Washington and the US-led Nato as top threats to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, urging the Asean to remain “alert to and oppose [Nato] intervention in the region”, according to a readout from state news agency Xinhua.
“The US-led ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’ exacerbates security dilemmas and runs counter to the vision of long-term peace and prosperity in the region,” Wang told an Asean Regional Forum meeting attended by 27 foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Nato intervention in the region was bound to “trigger confrontation and escalate tensions,” Wang was quoted as saying.
Blinken in turn hit out at China’s “escalating and unlawful actions” in the South China Sea.
Foreign ministers gathered in Laotian capital Vientiane for three days of Asean and related meetings included those from Russia, Japan, India, Australia, South Korea, the European Union and North Korea.
“Asean’s status as a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality should be respected” in a world of “turbulence and chaos”, Wang told the regional forum. “An Asean-centred, open and inclusive regional architecture [should] be supported,” he added.
Beijing insisted on “managing differences [over the South China Sea] properly through dialogue and consultation with parties involved”, he said, while urging regional countries to reject “external interference, confrontation and pressure”.
Wang also denounced Manila’s much-rumoured attempt to file a second international arbitration case against Beijing’s expansive claims to the disputed waters, following its landmark victory in the first such case eight years ago.
China claims almost the whole of the South China Sea under what is calls its historic “nine-dash line”. Neighbours including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei contest those claims.
A 2016 international tribunal ruled in favour of the Philippines but Beijing refused to participate in the case and rejected the ruling.
Wang said the 2016 arbitral case “had substantial flaws in law and fact, and was politically motivated”.
“China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea will not be affected by this illegal ruling under any circumstances,” he emphasised.
Wang also lashed out at the deepening US-Philippine security alignment under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, including deploying the Typhon US missile system.
02:49
China, Philippines differ over deal to stop clashes at fiercely disputed shoal
China, Philippines differ over deal to stop clashes at fiercely disputed shoal
During a string of bilateral meetings with his regional counterparts, including South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, Wang also stressed the importance of avoiding interference from external factors, in a thinly-veiled reference to the US.
But Cho shot back, saying that both the rules-based order and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait were crucial for South Korea’s national security.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi also warned of “a troubling trend of ‘great powers dominating the smaller ones’, reflecting a hegemonic tendency that should belong to the past”, though she did not name China or the US.
“We are witnessing rising rivalries, increasing distrust, and the potential for dangerous miscalculations,” she told the East Asia summit, according to a readout from her ministry.
Carl Thayer, emeritus professor of politics at the University of New South Wales in Australia, also warned the global order was becoming increasingly polarised into two opposing blocs, with the close Russia-China partnership pitted against the US and its allies.
“In other words, tensions in the South China Sea will be viewed as systemic rather than regional. This will lead to increased cooperation among the United States and its allies Japan, Australia and South Korea and an increase in European naval presence in the South China Sea than heretofore,” he said.
“Asean’s much vaunted centrality in regional affairs will be undermined due to internal divisions.”
The Philippines had tried to include a June 17 collision – the worst clash with China in months near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal – in the joint Asean communique, but this was blocked by Cambodia and Laos, according to the Associated Press.
Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who also met Wang, expressed concerns about the rising tensions between Beijing and Manila and the deepening US-China feud, saying “the fundamental problem is a lack of trust between two superpowers”.
He admitted in a group interview on Saturday that Asean’s unity was facing major challenges. Unlike Europe and the Middle East, Southeast Asia should be “an oasis of peace”, without “a line to divide us”, or being “forced to choose sides”, he said.
By Shi Jiangtao
Source: South China Morning Post
