Top China, U.S. diplomats begin Laos meeting
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hit out at Beijing’s ‘escalatory and unlawful actions’ in the South China Sea.
Daily TribuneUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken hit out at Beijing’s ‘escalatory and unlawful actions’ in the South China Sea.
VIENTIANE (AFP) — The top diplomats of China and the United States met for talks on Saturday in Laos, as Washington worries about Beijing’s deepening ties with Moscow and its actions in the South China Sea.
The pair will meet for about an hour on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting, US officials said, with China’s foreign ministry saying they would “exchange views on issues of common concern.”
Blinken’s trip to Asia has been touted as promoting a “free and open” Asia-Pacific region — a thinly veiled criticism of China’s regional economic, strategic and territorial ambitions.
Shortly before the meeting he hit out at Beijing’s “escalatory and unlawful actions” in the South China Sea, where China and the Philippines are locked in a territorial dispute that has seen clashes at a flashpoint reef.
Blinken arrived in Laos two days after the foreign ministers of China and Russia met with the 10-nation ASEAN bloc — and each other on the sidelines of the meeting.
On Thursday, Wang met Russia foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Vientiane and discussed “building a new security architecture for Eurasia,” according to Moscow’s foreign ministry.
The pair also agreed to jointly “counter any attempts by extra-regional forces to interfere in Southeast Asian affairs,” it said.
China has a strong political and economic partnership with Russia, with North Atlantic Treaty Organization members labeling Beijing as a “key facilitator” of Moscow’s involvement in the war in Ukraine.
‘No right’
China lashed out earlier this year after Blinken said that Washington was ready to defend the Philippines if its forces, ships or aircraft came under attack in the South China Sea.
Beijing has insisted that the United States has “no right” to interfere in the South China Sea.
The two countries also remain at loggerheads over trade, human rights and the status of the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China claims sovereignty over.
Blinken is scheduled to travel to Hanoi later Saturday to extend US condolences to Vietnamese officials after the passing of communist leader Nguyen Phu Trong.
ASEAN ministers issued a joint communique at the end of their three-day meeting.
One diplomatic source said the statement had been held up by lack of consensus over the wording of paragraphs on the Myanmar conflict and disputes in the South China Sea.
Myanmar’s junta has been banned from high-level ASEAN summits over its 2021 coup and crackdown on dissent but has sent two bureaucrats to represent it at the Laos talks.