China says Asean cooperation shouldn’t be ‘hollowed out’ in swipe at US

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has warned against efforts to bypass Asean with new regional cooperation channels, in a veiled swipe at the United States and its allies.

Wang also took aim at what he said was “groundless” criticism and “platitudes” from the US and Japan over China’s human rights record in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, issues he said Association of Southeast Asian Nations members had stayed out of.