Top diplomats from Southeast Asia have met with China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi in Laos.
Several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have territorial disputes with China, which have led to direct confrontations that many worry could lead to broader conflict.
ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei all have conflicts with China over its claim of sovereignty over virtually all of the South China Sea, one of the world’s most crucial waterways for shipping.
Indonesia has also expressed concern about what it sees as Beijing’s encroachment on its exclusive economic zone.
Indonesian Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi said ahead of the talks with Wang that one wrong step in the South China Sea will turn “a small fire into a terrible firestorm.”
In his opening remarks as he met with the ASEAN Ministers, Wang emphasized Chinese economic and trade ties.
Marsudi urged China to contribute to maintaining peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
“Suspicion and mutual distrust are the main factors distracting (people from fostering) mutual understanding,” she stated.
“Our shared commitment to maintain dialogue to maintain regional peace and stability is necessary,” she revealed.
Furthermore, Marsudi drew attention to the issue in the South China Sea that continues to burden the ASEAN-China relations.
The ASEAN Foreign Ministers underscored the importance of implementing the Declaration of Conduct (DoC) and immediately completing negotiations on the Code of Conduct (CoC) as a behavior guideline in the strategic waters.
“Indonesia’s position is consistent. All claims must be resolved peacefully through direct dialogue between interested parties.”
Retno Marsudi
Following the talks, Marsudi disclosed that the group asserted that it should not be a proxy for any power, otherwise “it will be difficult for ASEAN to become an anchor for regional stability and peace.”
Wang Meets With EU Foreign Affairs Chief
Separately, Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi met with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.
Wang revealed that Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has drawn a new blueprint for further deepening reforms in a comprehensive manner and advancing Chinese-style modernization.
“China’s high-quality development and high level of opening up will also bring new opportunities for China-EU cooperation,” Wang added.
The consensus between China and the EU far outweighs the differences, Wang said, noting that a healthy, stable and sustainable China-EU relationship is in the fundamental interests of both sides and is also the common expectation of the international community.
Also, Wang urged that China and the EU should stay committed to the partnership, keep to the overall direction of cooperation, respect the will and choices of their respective people, dialogue on an equal footing, enhance understanding and cope with the uncertainty of the international situation with the stability of China-EU relations.
He stressed that China will, as always, support the European integration and the EU’s maintaining on strategic autonomy.
The Chinese side hopes that the new EU leadership will pursue a rational and pragmatic policy towards China, look at China’s development in an objective and friendly way, and realize a smooth transition in China-EU relations.
Wang added that the EU’s anti-subsidy investigations into China’s electric vehicles is typical trade protectionism and is not conducive to global green transformation.
On his part, Borrell stated that the EU attaches importance to Europe-China relations and maintains an independent policy towards China.
“The EU is not involved in curbing China’s development and is happy to see China’s rise, and hopes to share mutual concerns with China openly and frankly, and develop a balanced Europe-China economic and trade relationship.”
Josep Borrell
He iterated that the EU is willing to maintain communication with China for the two sides to better understand their respective positions.
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