{"id":17850,"date":"2023-07-14T19:15:29","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T14:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/?p=17850"},"modified":"2023-07-14T19:15:29","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T14:15:29","slug":"secretary-blinken-vows-support-for-asean-against-chinese-coercion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/world\/secretary-blinken-vows-support-for-asean-against-chinese-coercion\/","title":{"rendered":"Secretary Blinken vows support for ASEAN against &#8216;Chinese coercion&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary Blinken vows support for ASEAN against &#8216;Chinese coercion&#8217;. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged solidarity on Friday with Southeast Asian nations against &#8220;coercion,&#8221; implicitly referring to Beijing, while host country Indonesia cautioned against the region becoming a proxy for global rivalries during talks.<\/p>\n<p>Blinken, along with foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), met in Jakarta, where China&#8217;s and Russia&#8217;s top diplomats were also present.<\/p>\n<p>Without explicitly mentioning concerns over Beijing, Blinken emphasised the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific region where countries have the freedom to choose their own paths and partners, and where issues are resolved through dialogue rather than coercion.<\/p>\n<p>He further stressed the need to uphold freedom of navigation in the South and East China Seas and maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions have been escalating between China and Southeast Asian nations, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines, due to China&#8217;s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n<p>Maritime incidents have increased, and tensions have also surged over Taiwan, which Beijing claims and has not ruled out using force to seize.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Read more:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/world\/antony-blinken-meets-chinas-xi-in-landmark-visit.html\">Antony Blinken meets China\u2019s Xi in landmark visit<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>However, Indonesia, as the host, cautioned against ASEAN becoming a battleground for global powers, highlighting the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n<p>While the annual talks have historically witnessed clashes between major powers, efforts have been made by the US and China to prevent disagreements from spiraling out of control.<\/p>\n<p>Blinken held a meeting with China&#8217;s top diplomat, Wang Yi, where the two discussed various issues, including cybersecurity and the need to improve bilateral ties.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, Blinken chose not to engage with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as the US has accused Russia of lacking genuine interest in diplomatic solutions to the conflict in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>The discussions also addressed the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, with Blinken urging more pressure on the military junta to halt violence and implement ASEAN&#8217;s five-point consensus for a return to democratic governance.<\/p>\n<p>Myanmar&#8217;s military junta was not invited to the talks, and ASEAN has been calling for a peaceful resolution to the situation in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the talks aimed to strengthen cooperation among ASEAN nations and address regional challenges, while also navigating the complex dynamics between major global powers in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary Blinken vows support for ASEAN against &#8216;Chinese coercion&#8217;. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged solidarity on Friday with Southeast Asian nations against &#8220;coercion,&#8221; implicitly referring to Beijing, while host country Indonesia cautioned against the region becoming a proxy for global rivalries during talks. Blinken, along with foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":17851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[6429,4302,470,5993,6330],"class_list":["post-17850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-world","tag-association-of-southeast-asian-nations","tag-beijing","tag-china","tag-indonesia","tag-philippines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}