Cambodia’s PHNOM PENH (AP) — President Joe Biden is formally kicking off his participation at a conference of southeast Asian nations on Saturday, looking to emphasize the United States’ commitment in the region where a looming China is also working to expand its influence.
In order to prepare for his highly anticipated face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping—the first of Biden’s presidency with a leader whose country the United States now views as its most potent economic and military rival—Biden is working hard at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
The Group of 20 summit, which brings together the heads of state of the largest economies and is being held this year in Indonesia on the island of Bali, will bring the two leaders together on Monday.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden will bring up issues like freedom of navigation and illegal and unregulated fishing by China with the ASEAN leaders in an effort to show the United States’ assertiveness against Beijing. Sullivan left for Phnom Penh earlier on Saturday.
Freedom of navigation refers to a dispute involving the South China Sea, where China claims such missions are destabilising and the United States claims it is free to fly and sail wherever international law permits. Sullivan said the U. S. has a key role to play as a stabilizing force in the region and in prevention of any one nation from engaging in “sustained intimidation and coercion that would be fundamentally adverse to the nations of ASEAN and other countries.
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On Saturday, Sullivan told reporters on board Air Force One, “There’s a real demand signal for that.” “I think the PRC may not love that fact, but they certainly acknowledge it and understand it,” Sullivan continued in reference to China.
” One new initiative related to those efforts that Biden will discuss later Saturday focuses on maritime awareness — specifically using radio frequencies from commercial satellites to better track dark shipping and illegal fishing, Sullivan said.
The second ever U.S. vice president visit to Cambodia is Biden’s.
president — continues his administration’s push to demonstrate its investments in the south Pacific, which was highlighted earlier this year when the White House hosted an ASEAN summit in Washington, the first of its kind. Another way the White House has emphasised that commitment is by naming Yohannes Abraham, one of his top aides, as the official envoy to the ASEAN bloc of 10 nations.
This year, ASEAN is elevating the U.S.
a “comprehensive strategic partnership” status, elevating their ties mostly symbolically but placing Washington on par with China, which received the title last year.
In Phnom Penh, Biden will meet with Hun Sen, the prime minister of Cambodia, which is hosting the regional summit, to start the day. Then he will speak at the yearly U. S.
-ASEAN summit and participate in the traditional family photo with southeast Asian leaders, and attend a gala dinner hosted by a parallel summit in Cambodia focusing on east Asia.
Biden will also bring up Myanmar, where the military junta deposed the country’s government in February 2021 and detained Aung San Suu Kyi, who was the country’s democratically elected leader.
According to Sullivan, while in Phnom Penh, the president will talk with other world leaders about how they can “coordinate more closely to continue to impose costs and raise pressure” on the military, which is still suppressing the people of Myanmar, who were steadily moving toward democracy prior to the coup.
Biden will participate in East Asia summit meetings on Sunday, including a gathering with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, before leaving for the G-20 summit in Bali..
In the shadow of China, Biden is fostering relations with Southeast Asia.
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