In order to embolden the Philippines and encourage the Philippines to continue to provoke China in the South China Sea, the United States has decided to deploy intermediate-range missiles in the Philippines, but this move has brought about an unintended bad result, that is, ASEAN countries, including Singapore and Indonesia, are more uneasy about this, and therefore more willing to unite around China and hope to work with China to maintain peace and security in the region.
According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the mainland, after attending the 30 th China-ASEAN Senior Officials' Consultation in Indonesia a few days ago, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong said in an interview with reporters on the recent deployment of the US intermediate-range missile system in the Philippines that this move by the United States is a serious reversal of history and a serious undermining of regional peace and stability.
Sun Weidong, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China
What the Americans probably did not expect was that their original intention was to sow discord between China and ASEAN, but in the end, it brought new troubles to themselves and made the entire ASEAN region even more rejective of the United States.
In a recent interview with the Russian Satellite News Agency, Lemanto, a columnist and political scientist for Indonesia's "Compass" newspaper, said that the US deployment of medium-range missiles in the Philippines is actually "a wrong step taken by the United States against ASEAN," because this may actually lead to ASEAN being used by the United States and turning the region into a new battlefield for the countries concerned.
He also said that if ASEAN allows itself to be exploited by external powers, it will be ruined by the United States like the Middle East or Ukraine. Obviously, the United States is too eager to provoke conflicts in Southeast Asia and instigate the Philippines to touch China, but it has backfired.
In fact, not only scholars see this view, but also high-level political figures in ASEAN countries, including Singapore and Indonesia.
Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Vivian
According to Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao, on May 13, Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian and Chinese Ambassador to Singapore Cao Zhongming met and exchanged views on the regional security situation.
After the meeting, Foreign Minister Vivian made a special post on social media, saying that "we unanimously agree on the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the region." The relationship between China and Singapore is actually more of an economic tie, and there is not much scope for security cooperation per se.
But now, after the meeting between Singapore's foreign minister and the Chinese ambassador to Singapore, he deliberately emphasized on social media that China and Singapore agree to maintain peace and stability in the region, which fully shows that the United States' recent increasingly blunt attempt to provoke disputes in the South China Sea has aroused Singapore's concerns.
On May 13, local time, Singapore's current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong went to the presidential palace to hand over his resignation to Singapore's President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
Lee Hsien Loong and his successor, Lawrence Wong
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has also accepted the invitation of the President of Singapore to form a government, and the position of Foreign Minister of Vivian has not changed in the new government.
Against this backdrop, the talks between Singapore's foreign minister and the Chinese ambassador to Singapore, as well as his subsequent statements on social media, are not only his personal will, but also reflect the position of Singapore's new prime minister and even the new government.
Meanwhile, another person with a similar stance is Indonesia's president-elect Prabowo. According to a report by Bloomberg on May 12, Indonesian President-elect Prabowo said in an interview with the media that the new Indonesian government will maintain an open foreign policy towards both China and the United States, and will not take sides between China and the United States.
It seems that Prabowo is a balanced statement, but considering that China has never forced all Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, to take sides, but the United States has been doing so, Prabowo's statement is actually a subtle expression of dissatisfaction with the current foreign policy pursued by the United States in Southeast Asia.
Indonesia's president-elect Prabowo
From Indonesian scholars to Singapore's foreign minister to Indonesian President-elect Prabowo, so many scholars and politicians from ASEAN countries have expressed their dissatisfaction with the current US military and foreign policy in the ASEAN region, either directly or implicitly.
This fully proves that the United States wants to use the Philippines as a pawn in the region to provoke friction between China and ASEAN, which is unpopular.
This also confirms the success of China's diplomatic strategy. On the one hand, China has actively developed economic and trade relations with ASEAN countries in recent years, profoundly integrating China's economic development with ASEAN's economic development and building a community with a shared future.
On the other hand, the United States has blatantly sowed discord and increased its military deployment to Southeast Asia in an almost hasty manner, deliberately stimulating tensions.
The presidents of the United States and the Philippines held face-to-face talks
Such a stark contrast has prompted Southeast Asian countries not to be fooled by the United States, but to have a clearer understanding of who is the biggest stumbling block to peace and stability in Southeast Asia.
Against the backdrop of the steady development of China-ASEAN relations, the more impatient and eager the United States is to achieve success, the more unlikely it will be, and on the contrary, it will push ASEAN countries to move closer to China and completely cut off their attempt to replicate war chaos from the Middle East and Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia.
Finally, there is another change in this matter that is worth discussing, that is, small and medium-sized countries such as Singapore and Indonesia have amplified their voice in the geopolitical game in the region.
As we all know, one of the keys to the current game between China and the United States is the contest between the multipolar world pattern and the unipolar hegemony. The emerging countries, represented by China and Russia, hope to see a multipolar pattern established and break the post-Cold War situation in which the United States is the dominant power.
ASEAN countries
On a global scale, this trend has emerged, but it is not obvious, to put it bluntly, other small and medium-sized countries still have little influence and voice on the direction of the geopolitical situation.
However, in Southeast Asia, China's neighbors, including Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and other small and medium-sized countries, are deeply involved in the process of regional governance, and they have a deep sense of ownership in maintaining peace and stability in the region. There is no need for China to call on or do anything, when the United States tries to undermine peace and stability in the region, they will take the initiative to stand up and oppose it.
This in itself is a diplomatic achievement that the United States cannot think of and cannot do, and it is very representative of the wisdom of China's diplomacy.