ASEAN unity ‘key to handling’ US-China rivalry in the region

Monday, August 16, 2010
Abdul Khalik
The Jakarta Post
Singapore

Apparent acrimony between the US and China emerged last month when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Hanoi that the US was willing to mediate in territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea. Many Southeast Asian countries see Beijing increasingly views the contested maritime area as a Chinese lake.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi responded bluntly to Clinton’s remarks, saying they amounted to “an attack on China”, before reminding Southeast Asian countries that China is a big country, implying that individually they were small.

Competition between the US and China in the Southeast Asian region has been more apparent recently as the major powers tested each other — from territorial conflicts in the South China Sea and Greater Mekong areas, to lending a hand to ASEAN members to develop nuclear plans.

ASEAN officials have warned that the rivalry between the two powers could divide members of the ASEAN bloc, potentially hampering their efforts to work together as allegiances are torn in two directions.

In areas that could draw ASEAN members into open conflict, discussion with good intentions must be prioritized between members, officials said recently.

“There is no future of military solutions in each of the conflicts,” Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told visiting ASEAN journalist in press conference last week.

“The key is ASEAN’s unity. If we are not united then there is a danger of us being balkanized. We should not invite them into our own internal affairs, because it will divide us,” Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeoh said earlier.
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