Regional respect and balance
Singapore PM stresses that Asean wants to work with Washington and Beijing
Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong says Asean wants to work with both US and China while US Vice-President Mike Pence calls for an Indo-Pacific free of ‘empires’.
SINGAPORE: US Vice-President Mike Pence told Asean leaders that the Indo-Pacific was no place for “empire and aggression”.
“We all agree that empire and aggression have no place in the Indo-Pacific,” Pence said in opening remarks at the sixth annual AseanUS meeting yesterday.
“Like you, we seek an Indo-Pacific in which all nations, large and small, can prosper and thrive – secure in our sovereignty, confident in our values, and growing stronger together.”
Speaking on behalf of President Donald Trump who skipped the meeting this year, he said: “Our vision for the Indo-Pacific excludes no nation. It only requires that every nation treat their neighbours with respect; they respect the sovereignty of our nations and the international rules of order.”
His comments come a month after a major speech in Washington last month where he spoke against China’s “aggression” in the East and South China Seas, and criticised its use of so-called “debt diplomacy” where Beijing is seen as leveraging infrastructure loans to expand its influence over the smaller nations in Asia.
In response, the US has canvassed support for its vision of Indo-Pacific, announced its intention to spur private sector investments in the region and stepped up its “freedom of navigation” exercises in the strategic South China Sea where China has militarised disputed islands also contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Pence expressed his “commitment to uphold the freedom of the seas and skies” and spoke of his determination to ensure that SouthEast Asian nations were secure in their sovereign borders, on land, and at sea in the digital world, a Reuters report said.
In his intervention during the summit, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the Asean-US partnership has to be seen in the background of the US-China relationship, stressing that the Asean nations wanted to work with both countries.
“The US-China relationship is the most important set of bilateral relations, and has profound implica- tions to Asean,” Lee said.
“Asean countries want to be able to engage with both US and China, and maximise the scope and advantages of our cooperation. Therefore, we hope that the US-China relations remain stable and hope that all will work out. We are open to proposals by external partners to strengthen the existing Asean-centric regional architecture.”
While Beijing and Washington have both sought more influence in the region, they have also been locked in a trade war for most of this year.
They have imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s imports, sending ripples of tension across the rest of the world.
Lee also noted that the US reiteration of a “free and open IndoPacific” with its fundamental principles, such as respect for Asean centrality, promoting a rules-based order and resolving disputes in a peaceful manner, were aligned with Asean’s key interests.
“We also believe that a robust, united Asean-centric regional architecture that is open, inclusive, and invites and interacts with all stakeholders, is our best chance of building a peaceful, prosperous and secure region,” he said.
He also welcomed the US-North Korea summit in Singapore in June as an important first step towards lasting peace on a denuclearised Korean peninsula, assuring Singapore would do its bit to fully implement obligations under the UN Security Council Resolutions.
Lee also announced that AseanUS Leaders’ Statement on Cybersecurity Cooperation had been adopted. The initiative aims to strengthen resilience and capabilities against cybercrime and cyberattacks. — The Straits Times/Asia News Network