US, China offer rival visions for Asia-Pacific
SINGAPORE (AP) — The United States and China yesterday offered rival visions for the Asia-Pacific region at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit whose economies and strategic interests are deeply entwined with both powers, with US Vice President Mike Pence saying there was no room for “empire or aggression” in the region.
Pence stressed the “steadfast and enduring” American commitment to the IndoPacific region as he met with ASEAN leaders during their annual summit in Singapore.
“Our vision for the IndoPacific excludes no nation. It only requires that every nation treat their neighbors with respect, they respect the sovereignty of our nations and the international rules of order,” Pence said in a veiled swipe at China’s growing influence and military expansion in the South China Sea.
He is standing in for US President Donald Trump at the ASEAN meeting and another summit later this week in Papua New Guinea.
The ASEAN meetings focus on enhanced trade and security in a region of more than 630 million people.
While in Singapore, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has sought to reassure China’s neighbors over its expanding reach, both economic and military, across the region.
In a separate meeting with the ASEAN leaders, he urged them to help reassure world markets roiled by US trade policies that have resulted in the imposition of punitive tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese products, among other measures.
Southeast Asian countries and others in the region share China’s consternation over the Trump administration’s rejection of multilateral trade regimes and the global trade system that has helped them modernize and enrich their economies.
Many of the leaders attending the meetings in Singapore have emphasized the need to fight protectionism and protect the rules that help govern global trade.
The region needs to “take concrete action to uphold the rules-based free trade regime and to send a message — a positive message — to the market to provide stable, predictable and law-based conditions for the market,” Li said.