PHNOM PENH, Nov 13 (dpa): US President Joe Biden has reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region while also confirming further maritime support for South-East Asian nations, The White House said in a statement on Sunday.
In his address at the annual East Asia Summit during the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Phnom Penh, Biden highlighted how US and allies were helping ASEAN nations and other Indo-Pacific partners to "undertake marine conservation, counter illegal fishing, and respond to humanitarian disasters."
The US President also reaffirmed Washington's commitment to a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region, while pledging to work with allies to "strengthen health systems, promote food security, address climate change, and accelerate the clean energy transition."
On Friday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the maritime initiative would help South-East Asian nations to increase their maritime security by using radio frequencies from commercial satellites to track "dark shipping", which is when ships deliberately switch off their tracking systems to hide their movements.
Biden also said freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea must be respected.
China’s aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea - it claims huge swathes of the resource-rich waterway with its controversial nine-dash line and has entered territorial waters of neighbouring countries while searching for oil and gas - have led to conflict with South-East Asian nations including Vietnam, Malaysia, The Philippines and Brunei.
On Saturday Biden and leaders of South-East Asian countries also announced that they will elevate their ties to a "comprehensive strategic partnership” as the US seeks to counter China’s influence in the region.
In 2021, China elevated its partnership with Asean to a similar status, while in a meeting with Hun Sen on Wednesday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang suggested promoting the strategic partnership between the two nations to "a higher level," according to a press release.
The United States will continue to "compete vigorously” with China and speak out on human rights abuses, while keeping lines of communication open and ensuring competition does not veer into conflict, the White House statement added.
Speaking during the summit on East Asia, Biden also said that he has spent more time with Chinese President Xi Jinping than any other world leader, yet warned of diplomatic limits.
"We've just got to figure it out, where the red lines are and what are the most important things for each of us going into the next two years," he said.
During the summit’s closing ceremony, in which Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen handed over to Indonesia, who will host next year’s summit, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said: "Asean should not let the current geopolitical dynamic turn into a new Cold War in our region."
"Asean must become a peaceful region and anchor for global stability, consistently uphold international law and not be a proxy to any powers."
Biden also raised concerns over the crisis in Myanmar, saying further action should be taken to increase pressure on the country’s ruling military junta to release political prisoners, adding that the Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar agreed by Asean states in April 2021 should be fully implemented, according to the statement.
The US President also condemned Russia’s war against Ukraine. Speaking to reporters at the Asean Summit, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday that a joint statement was not adopted following the East Asia summit because of "unacceptable” US language on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Asean is a union of 10 South-East Asian countries which promotes diplomatic cooperation on economic, political and security issues. The union has an estimated total population of about 668 million. - dpa
