Updated Oct. 11, 2024, 05:00 a.m. ET.
The United States is concerned about China’s “increasingly dangerous and unlawful actions” in disputed regional waterways, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Southeast Asian leaders on Friday, after China warned its Asian neighbors of the danger of foreign forces stirring confrontation.
Offshore territorial disputes between an increasingly assertive China and its neighbors have raised fears of an armed clash and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, has been trying to negotiate a “code of conduct” with China to prevent that.
But progress on the code has been slow while confrontations in disputed waters have been increasing between Chinese maritime authorities and vessels from the Philippines and Vietnam, in particular.
"We remain concerned about China's increasingly dangerous and unlawful actions in the South and East China Seas, which have injured people and harmed vessels from ASEAN nations, and contradict commitments to peaceful resolution of disputes," Blinken told the opening of an ASEAN-US summit in Laos.
“The United States will continue to support freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea while ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, have overlapping claims to parts of it, as does Taiwan.
China, which competes with the United States for influence in the region, also has a territorial dispute with U.S. ally Japan in the East China Sea.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang also held a summit with ASEAN leaders in the Lao capital, Vientiane. He did not mention territorial disputes in his opening remarks on Thursday but referred to the South China Sea as a “shared home for ASEAN and China,” said a diplomat who attended.
‘Manage tensions’
Li, in a veiled reference to the United States, told an ASEAN Plus Three Summit the same day that the region faced instability and uncertainty, "especially the frequent interference and disturbance of foreign forces, and even attempts to introduce camp confrontation and geopolitical conflicts into Asia."
“Asia had suffered from the scourge of colonization and invasion in modern times, but over the past decades, our region has maintained rapid development. That is because Asian countries have drawn lessons from the past and endeavored to uphold peace and stability in the region,” the Chinese premier said.
Speaking to reporters after the summit, Blinken defended U.S. engagement and stressed the importance of the region.
“I think there is a profound understanding that, as President Biden said, our future is in the Indo-Pacific … and everything that we’ve done over the past year has been to strengthen our ties, deepen our engagement, build the partnership,” he told a news conference.
Biden skipped the ASEAN meeting for a second straight year, but Blinken said, in spite of global geopolitical concerns, the U.S. was still committed to the region.
“This is my 20th trip to the Indo-Pacific as secretary of state, so yes, there are a lot of things going on out there – in the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine – but that is just one small piece of evidence that, even with everything else going on, our focus has remained intensely on this region. And again because it is so critical to our own future.”
The president of the Philippines, which has been involved in the most serious confrontations with China in disputed waters this year, complained to ASEAN leaders on Thursday of Chinese “harassment and intimidation.”
Writing on Facebook, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. added that the situation required more than just dialogue.
“It calls for a genuine commitment from all parties to manage tensions, uphold international laws and find common ground,” Marcos said.
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Vietnam’s prime minister, Pham Minh Chinh, called for the ASEAN code of conduct on the South China Sea to be completed and for a peaceful resolution of the offshore disputes.
"He underlined the need to enhance dialogue and peacefully resolve disputes in the region, including in the East Sea, turning the East Sea into a zone of peace, stability, cooperation, and long-term sustainable development," the state-run state Voice of Vietnam reported, using Vietnam's name for the South China Sea.
“He called for the substantive and effective conclusion of the code of conduct negotiations in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” it reported.
In a landmark 2016 decision, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China's claims in the South China Sea were not supported by international law. China rejects that decision.
Edited by Mike Firn.
Updated with additional comments from Antony Blinken and Li Qiang.