May 15, 2022

The once-postponed special US-ASEAN Special Summit was held in Washington this week. During his speech, US President Joe Biden said, "Our relationship with you [ASEAN members] is the future, in the coming years and decades." US Vice President Kamala Harris added that "together we will guard against threats to international rules and norms." The US side did not publicly mention China, but the public opinion generally believes that when the US engages in multilateral diplomacy nowadays, it often makes China the "absent protagonist."

However, ASEAN countries as a whole remained cautious about the summit. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, made it clear that "We don't have to choose between the US and China." In his speech in Washington, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stressed that "between independence and dependence, our choice is always independence … Between negotiation and confrontation, we choose negotiation. Between dialogue and conflict, we choose dialogue. And between peace and war, we choose peace. Between cooperation and competition, we choose cooperation." On his part, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said, "Indonesia expects this special summit will produce a partnership that can contribute to peace, stability, and regional welfare." Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong welcomed proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework with the US, but also said he hopes it will be "inclusive."

The caution of ASEAN countries is reasonable. This year marks the 45th anniversary of ASEAN-US Dialogue Relations. From whatever perspective, the relationship between the two sides can hardly be described as "ideal." In March, the US announced it would launch an investigation into alleged circumvention of duties for solar panels imported into the US from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, alleging the modules of panels might come from China and it caused shockwaves to relevant industries. 

Read more:

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202205/1265646.shtml