President Joe Biden told Southeast Asian countries on Wednesday (October 27) that the United States will stand with them to defend maritime freedom and democracy, and said that China’s actions against Taiwan are “mandatory” and are for peace and stability. threat.
Speaking at the Virtual East Asia Summit attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Biden said that Washington will start negotiations with partners in the Indo-Pacific region on the development of a regional economic framework. Critics say his regional strategy lacks this.
Southeast Asia has become a strategic battlefield between the United States and China. China controls most of the South China Sea, while Beijing exerts military and political pressure on the extremely democratic Taiwan (which Beijing considers to be its own autonomous island).
Biden reiterated that the United States has a “rock-solid” commitment to Taiwan. “We are deeply concerned about China’s coercive…actions,” Biden said, accusing them of “threatening regional peace and stability.”
Li Keqiang said at the summit that the leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries have met with regional partners to maintain peace, stability, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea in the interests of all parties. “The South China Sea is our common home,” he said.
Biden said last week that under a 1979 law, the United States is obliged to provide Taiwan with means of self-defense, and that if Taiwan is attacked by China, it will come forward. These remarks caused a sensation because they seemed to deviate from the United States’ long-standing “strategic ambiguity” policy on how Washington will respond to this situation.
The White House stated that Biden has not hinted that the United States will change its Taiwan policy, and some analysts believe that his remarks are gaffes.
In recent weeks, as Beijing has performed multiple air missions over the Taiwan Strait, the tension between Taiwan and China has escalated, which is a waterway separating Taiwan and the mainland.
China expressed dissatisfaction with Biden’s remarks last week and urged Washington to “not send wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces, lest it seriously damage Sino-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Biden and Southeast Asian leaders condemned the Burmese military government.
“In Myanmar, we must resolve the tragedy caused by military coups that are increasingly destabilizing the region,” he said, calling for the release of political prisoners and the restoration of democracy.
After the supreme general of Myanmar was excluded for ignoring the peace proposal, ASEAN began a three-day summit on Tuesday with no representatives from Myanmar.
Biden also stated that he will “voice for the human rights of Xinjiang and Tibet (and) the rights of the people of Hong Kong.” China denies violations of human rights in its remote areas Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as the former British colony of Hong Kong.
Biden’s economic initiative
Biden said that Washington will start discussions with partners in the Indo-Pacific region to develop a regional economic framework.
After former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2017 from the trade agreement now known as the Comprehensive Progress Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, critics of the US strategy for the region pointed out that the region lacked an economic component.
So far, the Biden administration has refrained from taking any action to reinstate an agreement that critics have said could cost the United States jobs. A senior U.S. government official emphasized that the initiative referred to by the president is “not a trade agreement.” “.
“What the President said… is that we will start discussing with our partners to formulate an economic framework to prepare for our future-focusing on making the lives of workers and the middle class better-which will guide our efforts in the economic field. Participate in the area,” the official said.
A White House report stated that the envisaged network will also “determine our common goals around trade facilitation” and standards for decarbonization and clean energy.
Australia and ASEAN agreed on Wednesday to establish a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, a sign of Canberra’s ambition to play a greater role in the region.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated that the agreement will strengthen diplomatic and security relations and promised that the country will “support it in substance”.
Morrison tried to assure ASEAN that the trilateral security agreement reached by the United States, Britain and Australia last month would not pose a threat to the region. According to the agreement, Australia will obtain the right to use nuclear-powered submarines.
