US tries to outgun China with its latest wooing of ASEAN
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected as the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UAE official WAM news agency reported on Saturday. The Federal Supreme Council convened today to elect the president, who will hold office for a five-year term before being eligible for re-election. The new president was selected from among the members of the Federal Supreme Council, Khaleej Times reported. According to it, Sheikh Mohamed has also served as the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces since January 2005. He is known for playing a key role in developing the UAE Armed Forces in terms of strategic planning, training, organisational structure and promoting defence capabilities.
Under his leadership, the UAE Armed Forces have emerged as a leading institution that is widely admired by international military organisations.
The rulers of the United Arab Emirates’ seven sheikhdoms made the decision at a meeting. It comes after the late President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who had been in office since 2004, died at the age of 73 after a long illness on Friday.
The Ministry of Presidential Affairs announced that there will be 40 days of official mourning with flags at half-mast and three days of closure of ministries and official entities at the federal and local levels and the private sector,” the agency wrote on Twitter on Friday.
“The Ministry of Presidential Affairs condoles the people of the UAE, the Arab and Islamic nation and the world over the demise of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE,” Emirates News Agency, also known as WAM, said in an exclusive statement.
South-east Asia suddenly became the power theatre of the East as the United States steps up to leave the rivalry with China behind in wooing the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).
US President Joe Biden convening a meeting of these countries in Washington in May second week amid the Russia-ukraine conflict has no other apparent purpose. For China, the ASEAN meeting in Washington gives an edge in its power projection exercise in the sense that it is an acknowledgement by the United States that China is its main rival and confirms the importance of the Asian bloc for the China-us competition.
As both sides woo ASEAN, Biden’s latest attempt is seen as an “effort to woo ASEAN members caught in a delicate balancing act between superpowers”.
The US administration admitted as much when in the run-up to the meeting, the White House issued a press release saying, “It is a top priority for the Biden-harris Administration to serve as a strong, reliable partner in Southeast Asia. Our shared aspirations for the region will continue to underpin our common commitment to advance an Indo-pacific that is free and open, secure, connected, and resilient.”
ASEAN made no bones of the fact that it realises it is stuck between China and the US and wants concessions on its own terms as part of its strategy to be wooed by the big powers.