Southeast Asian defense chiefs meet in Laos as maritime disputes with
China are flaring
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 [November 20, 2024]
By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI
VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Southeast Asian defense chiefs and
representatives met in Laos on Wednesday for security talks at a time of
increasing maritime disputes with China in the Asia-Pacific and as the
transition to a new U.S. president looms.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was set to join the meetings of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations defense ministers in
Vientiane, where many will be looking for assurances before
President-elect Donald Trump's return to power in January.
Austin just wrapped up meetings in Australia with officials there and
Japan's defense minister, where they pledged their support for ASEAN and
their “serious concern about destabilizing actions in the East and South
China Seas, including dangerous conduct by the People's Republic of
China against Philippines and other coastal state vessels.”
In addition to the United States, other nations attending the two-day
ASEAN meetings include Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and China.
Along with the Philippines, ASEAN member states Vietnam, Malaysia and
Brunei have competing claims with China in the South China Sea, which
Beijing claims almost entirely as its own territory.
Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos are the
other ASEAN members.
Opening the talks, Laotian Defense Minister Chansamone Chanyalath said
he hoped for productive meetings that would "become a standard for us to
continue ASEAN’s cooperation in defense, including how to handle,
thwart, and manage security threats in the present and in the future.”
As China has been more assertively pushing its claims in recent years,
ASEAN members and Beijing have been negotiating a code of conduct to
govern behavior in the sea, but progress has been slow.
Officials have agreed to try to complete the code by 2026, but talks
have been hampered by sticky issues, including disagreements over
whether the pact should be binding.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has called for more
urgency in the code of conduct negotiations, complained at the meeting
of ASEAN leaders last month that his country “continues to be subject to
harassment and intimidation” by China’s actions, which he said violated
international law.
Chinese and Philippine vessels have clashed repeatedly this year, and
Vietnam in October charged that Chinese forces assaulted its fishermen
in disputed areas in the South China Sea. China has also sent patrol
vessels to areas that Indonesia and Malaysia claim as exclusive economic
zones.
At the meeting of ASEAN leaders last month, U.S. Secretary of State
Antony Blinken said Washington was "very concerned about China’s
increasingly dangerous and unlawful activities in the South China Sea
which have injured people, harm vessels from ASEAN nations and
contradict commitments to peaceful resolutions of disputes.”
He pledged that the U.S. would "continue to support freedom of
navigation, and freedom of overflight in the Indo Pacific.”
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Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin arrives to attend
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) defense
ministers' meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP
Photo/Anupam Nath)
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said
U.S. and other non-regional militaries present in the sea were the
main source of instability.
“The increasing military deployment and activities in the South
China Sea by the U.S. and a few other non-regional countries,
stoking confrontation and creating tensions, are the greatest source
of instability for peace and stability in the South China Sea,” Mao
said.
It is not yet clear how the incoming Trump administration will
address the South China Sea situation.
After Austin's meetings in Australia, the Defense Department said
the U.S., Australia and Japan had agreed to expand joint drills and
announced a defense consultation body among the three countries’
forces to strengthen their cooperation.
When asked Tuesday while in the Philippines about whether the strong
U.S. defense support would continue for the country under Trump,
Austin said he would not speculate.
It remained unclear whether Austin plans to meet China's Defense
Minister Dong Jun on the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings, but
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani is expected to meet with Dong
to express his concerns over Beijing's military activities, Japan's
NHK reported.
Japan has protested that a Chinese military aircraft violated its
airspace briefly in August, and in September Japan expressed
“serious concerns” after a Chinese aircraft carrier and two
destroyers sailed between two Japanese islands.
The meetings are also likely to touch on the tensions in the Korean
Peninsula, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the wars in the Middle East.
They also expect to discuss other issues, including natural
disasters, cybersecurity and terrorism.
Another thorny regional issue is the civil war and humanitarian
crisis in ASEAN member Myanmar. The group's credibility has been
severely tested by the war in Myanmar, where the army ousted an
elected government in 2021, and fighting has continued with
pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic rebels.
More than a year into an offensive initiated by three militias and
joined by other resistance groups, observers estimate the military
controls less than half the country.
Myanmar military rulers have been barred from ASEAN meetings since
late 2021, but this year, the country has been represented by
high-level bureaucrats, including at the summit in October.
___
Associated Press writer David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this
report.
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