The ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting, convened by Vietnam as the chair country, kicked off today in Hanoi with a four-day meeting. At the opening ceremony, there are already shadows of international tensions and regional disputes. The host, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, mentioned in his speech that differences in the South China Sea are unsettling, while U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of bullying its neighbors, and now there is a war of words. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the meeting, but there was no word on how he would speak.
According to Kyodo News, the opening of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting focused on the U.S.-China confrontation.
The meeting of the foreign ministers of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was held in an online format on September 9, and the opening of a series of video conferences that will last until the 12th, in which Japan, the United States, China, and South Korea will also participate. The meeting will focus on the confrontation between the U.S. and China over the situation in the South China Sea and Hong Kong, as well as the response to the Xinguan epidemic.
According to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Vietnam, which holds the ASEAN chairmanship, in a speech at the opening ceremony, “The situation in the region, including the South China Sea, has undergone many changes, which have an impact on peace and stability.”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi are expected to attend a meeting of foreign ministers at the East Asia Summit on the evening of the 9th, or to engage in a confrontation. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Maki is also scheduled to attend, and the 12-day ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) ministerial meeting will also include North Korea, but the country’s foreign minister will not attend for the second year in a row, and will instead be attended by North Korean diplomats in Vietnam.
According to the report, tensions in the South China Sea could be a direct cause of regional instability for ASEAN, which includes littoral states such as Vietnam and the Philippines. The draft joint statement of the foreign ministers’ meeting included the word “concern” in light of China’s increased de facto control.
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