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HANOI: The rivalry between the United States and China will dominate discussions when the foreign ministers of 10 Southeast Asian countries launch an online summit on Wednesday (September 9), with Washington’s top diplomat ready to target “harassment.” from Beijing on the South China Sea.
The summit comes just days after China launched ballistic missiles into flashpoint waters as part of live-fire exercises and as Washington and Beijing clash over a variety of issues, from trade to coronavirus.
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The ministers will be accompanied by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, at their first summit since the United States announced sanctions on Chinese companies for the construction of artificial islands in the disputed waters. from Beijing.
The resource-rich South China Sea is claimed in its entirety by Beijing, but is also contested by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.
A new dispute between China and the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal, one of the richest fishing grounds in the region, also looms over the talks.
“The Communist Party of China is engaged in a clear and intensive pattern of intimidating its neighbors,” Pompeo said before the summit.
Tensions over the Korean peninsula will also be high on the agenda. Talks between Pyongyang and Washington over North Korea’s nuclear arsenal have stalled since the collapse of a summit in Hanoi between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump last year.
The COVID-19 pandemic will feature prominently in discussions, after Vietnam, the current president of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), warned at a meeting in June that the fallout from the virus had swept years of profits. economic in the region.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in his opening remarks that “people and businesses are suffering enormous losses” and “the geopolitical environment, the regional economy, including that of the East Sea (South China Sea), they are experiencing various disorders that influence peace and stability. “
READ: Comment: China is preparing for more heated relations with the US.
The “power rivalry” between the United States and China is likely to steal the spotlight, a senior Southeast Asian diplomat told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The United States and China will probably use the meetings as a platform to throw everything at each other,” he said.
Smaller countries “will say their usual lines” and then take cover as Washington and Beijing fight, he added.
Friction between the two powers is already high over trade, blamed on the coronavirus pandemic and China’s policies in Hong Kong, where Beijing has imposed a national security law.
There is also anguish that the virus may have provided cover for China to make new plays in the South China Sea.
Zachary Abuza, an expert on Southeast Asian politics at the National War College in Washington, said it was unlikely that much progress would be made in the disputed waters talks.
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“China has effectively used COVID-19 assistance and vaccine promises, and trials in the Philippines and Indonesia, to really try to quell any diplomatic push towards a discussion on the South China Sea,” he told AFP.
