US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday [August 1] criticized China for “coercion” in the South China Sea as he attended the ongoing 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) in Thailand.
US State Secretary Mike Pompeo at the 52nd AMM. Photo: Reuters
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Pompeo made the statement at the 10-member bloc’s event following recent incidents between Chinese and Vietnamese ships, Chinese and Philippine ships and China's infringement of Vietnam’s territorial waters, and harassment of Vietnamese long-lasting oil operations in its continental shelf.
In another move, Pompeo said on the same day that Washington isn’t asking any Asian nation to take side as it engages with the region where China is battling for influence and aggressively expanding irrational territorial claims in the South China Sea.
“Look, we don’t ever ask any Indo-Pacific nations to choose between countries. Our engagement in this region has not been and will not be a zero-sum exercise. Our interests simply naturally converge with yours to our mutual benefit,” Pompeo said in a speech at the annual meeting with his ASEAN counterparts, AP reported.
US State Secretary Mike Pompeo and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the 52nd AMM. Photo: Reuters
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He hailed an Indo-Pacific engagement framework adopted by the leaders of Southeast Asian nations in June, saying it supports sovereignty, transparency, good governance and a rules-based order among other things.
The US-China rivalry fueled by their trade disputes has put the 10-member ASEAN bloc in a tight spot and the new framework is aimed at finding a middle ground to keep on the good side of both Washington and Beijing.
Beijing has been attempting to project its influence globally through its “Belt and Road” initiative, an ambitious development program of major infrastructure projects.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shakes hands with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh at the 52nd AMM. Photo: AP
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China’s assertive territorial claims in the South China Sea, through which a third of global shipping passes, has drawn rebuke from the US and become a flashpoint for a region in which ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei have claims to the waters.
ASEAN and China have for years been working on a Code of Conduct meant to govern the waterway and make the area more stable.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi later Thursday said Beijing will not let anyone block its right to development.
“It is neither fair nor possible to try to obstruct China’s development,” Wang said in remarks to reporters provided by the Chinese delegation after talks with Pompeo on the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings.
In March this year, Pompeo said China, by blocking development in the South China Sea through coercive measures, was preventing ASEAN members from accessing more than US$2.5 trillion in recoverable energy reserves.
