US President Joe Biden joined a conference of South-East Asian nations, looking to emphasize the United States’ commitment in the region where a looming China is also working to expand its influence.
Biden’s efforts at the Asean summit are meant to lay the groundwork for his highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping – the first face-to-face encounter of Biden’s presidency with a leader whose nation the US now considers its most potent economic and military rival.
Biden and Xi will meet tomorrow at the Group of 20 summit that brings together leaders from the largest economies, which is held this year in Bali, Indonesia.
Travelling to Phnom Penh earlier yesterday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden will raise issues such as freedom of navigation and illegal and unregulated fishing by China with the Asean leaders – aimed at demonstrating US assertiveness against Beijing.
Freedom of navigation refers to a dispute involving the South China Sea, where the United States says it can sail and fly wherever international law allows and China believes such missions are destabilising.
Sullivan said the US has a key role to play as a stabilising force in the region and in prevention of any one nation from engaging in “sustained intimidation and coercion that would be fundamentally adverse to the nations of Asean and other countries.”
“There’s a real demand signal for that,” Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One yesterday. Referring to the People’s Republic of China, Sullivan continued: “I think the PRC may not love that fact, but they certainly acknowledge it and understand it.”
One new initiative related to those efforts that Biden will discuss focuses on maritime awareness, specifically using radio frequencies from commercial satellites to better track dark shipping and illegal fishing, Sullivan said.
Biden’s visit to Cambodia – the second ever by a US president – continues his administration’s push to demonstrate its investments in the south Pacific, which was highlighted earlier this year when the White House hosted an Asean summit in Washington, the first of its kind.
He also tapped one of his senior aides, Yohannes Abraham, as the official envoy to the 10-country bloc that makes up Asean, another way the White House has highlighted that commitment.
Asean this year is elevating the US to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” status – a largely symbolic enhancement of their relationship but one that puts Washington on the same level as China, which was granted the distinction last year.
Biden opened in Phnom Penh by meeting with Hun Sen, the prime minister of Cambodia, the host for the regional summit.
He’ll also speak at the annual US-Asean summit and attend a gala dinner hosted by a parallel summit in Cambodia focusing on east Asia.
Another topic Biden will raise is Myanmar, where the military junta overthrew the ruling government in February 2021 and arrested its democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
As he met with Hun Sen, Biden stressed that the US was committed to the return of democracy in Myanmar, which had steadily headed toward a democratic form of governance before the coup.
Biden will participate in East Asia summit sessions today, including a three-way meeting with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, before leaving for the G-20 summit in Bali. — AP
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