US President Joe Biden pledges more support on Myanmar, South China Sea row in 'new era' of US-Asean ties
United States President Joe Biden on Saturday said the embattled Asean bloc - facing questions about its unity - was at the heart of Washington's Asia policy and promised closer collaboration on major regional challenges such as Myanmar's post-coup violence and the South China Sea dispute.
In his remarks during talks with nine of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) member states' leaders in Phnom Penh, Biden said his presence at the meeting was "testament to the importance the United States places in our relationship with Asean".
"Asean is the heart of my administration's Indo-Pacific strategy. And we continue to strengthen our commitment to work in lockstep with an empowered, unified Asean," he said.
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The US president also announced the launch of the US-Asean Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which expands multilateral cooperation in areas including environment and climate. The partnership puts Washington's relationship with Asean on the same level as China.
The pact sought to defend against "threats to the rule of law" and "build an Indo-Pacific that is free and open, stable and prosperous, resilient and secure", Biden said, adding that the agreement marked a "new era" in US-Asean ties.
"I look forward to continuing our work together with Asean and with each one of you to deepen peace and prosperity throughout the region to resolve challenges from the South China Sea to Myanmar and to find innovative solutions to shared challenges," he said in brief remarks televised to the media before closed-door talks began.
The Myanmar crisis and the years-long territorial and maritime dispute between several Asean states and China over the South China Sea were expected to be part of the agenda during the US President's talks with the nine Asean leaders.
Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing did not have a seat at the table as part of an Asean consensus that junta leaders should be sidelined from meetings until they commit to implementing a previously agreed peace plan.
Biden's presence in Phnom Penh marks only the second time since 2017 where a US president is in attendance at Asean's end-of-year summits, which includes Sunday's East Asia Summit (EAS) involving all of the bloc's key global partners.
His predecessor Donald Trump's neglect of these meetings has been cited as one of the reasons for Washington's commitment to the region coming under question in recent years.
All eyes are expected to turn to Biden's attendance of the EAS on Sunday. China's Premier Li Keqiang will also be present at the meeting. On Monday, Biden will arrive in Bali for face-to-face talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the two-day G20 summit on the Indonesian resort island.
Phnom Penh, hosting the first full-scale Asean summit since 2020, was a hive of diplomatic activity on Saturday with top officials from around the world, including the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, present ahead of the EAS.
Speaking to the media, Guterres said the international community including the UN had "failed" Myanmar, and he hoped Asean would be able to compel the junta to abide by the so-called Five-Point Consensus peace plan forged in April 2021.
Also addressing the media was Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who called on Asean to take a firmer stance against Russia for its invasion of his country.
Ukraine this week became a signatory to Asean's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, a symbolic peace treaty dating back to 1976. The treaty commits parties to "mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of all nations".
"We call on Asean countries to condemn Russian aggression against Ukraine because this is not just an attack on a sovereign country," Kuleba told reporters. "This is also an attack on the UN Charter and the principles of territorial integrity, sovereignty and non-use of force."
"I'm absolutely confident that none of the Asean countries is interested in seeing any country following the pattern of behaviour of Russia here in Asia," he said.
Countries in the region have adopted differing stances against Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February. Singapore is the sole country that has imposed unilateral sanctions on Moscow while others, which have complex security and trade ties with Russia, have been more cautious in their criticism.
Asked about the lack of sanctions against Russia in Southeast Asia, Kuleba said he believed it was in part due to "political reasons".
But he noted that sanctions were not the only way that countries could show support for Kyiv. "There are various forms on how to support Ukraine. The worst thing a country can do is to do nothing," he said.
Kuleba said Russia's top diplomat Sergey Lavrov - who is representing Moscow at the EAS - had not requested a meeting and there was "not one indication Russia wants negotiations".
He added that he had hoped for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi but that plan had failed to materialise. Still, Ukraine was maintaining dialogue with Beijing to "make sure China uses its leverage on Russia to make them stop the war".
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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