WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – Against the background of China’s increasing power, the USA and the Association of Southeast Asian States Asean have agreed to expand cooperation. “We are ushering in a new era in US-ASEAN relations,” said US President Joe Biden at a special summit in Washington on Friday (local time). We are committed to growth, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific region – including respect for the rule of law and human rights.
The US government had announced in advance that the special summit would also deal with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. However, a joint statement by the US and ASEAN countries after the Washington summit did not specifically mention Russia or condemn it as an aggressor. The paper said only that Ukraine’s “respect for sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity” was reaffirmed.
Biden received the heads of state and government of the ASEAN association for the first time in history in the White House on Thursday evening. Biden said, “We discussed the importance of working together to ensure security, prosperity and respect for human rights for our one billion people.”
The US government had previously announced new US initiatives and projects with Asean worth around 150 million US dollars (around 144 million euros). The summit in Washington should also deal with the situation in Myanmar after the military coup of February last year. Myanmar officials did not attend the summit. The US has imposed sanctions on the military regime in the country.
ASEAN is made up of ten countries including Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Biden had already promised the countries closer cooperation in a video link in October. The US President pays particular attention to this – also to counter China’s growing thirst for power./cy/DP/zb