Recently, many foreign ministers have gone to Laos to participate in a series of ASEAN summits, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with the foreign ministers of the other four countries before meeting with Blinken.
In the past two days, the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Summit has kicked off in Laos, the current rotating chair of ASEAN.
This time, many countries and international organizations outside ASEAN have also sent high-level officials to Laos to participate in the meeting, including China, the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union. It can be seen that both countries in the Asia-Pacific region and Western countries attach great importance to their relations with ASEAN at this stage.
Of course, this series of ASEAN summits has also provided an opportunity for countries to exchange and dialogue. On the eve of the summit, the United States revealed that Blinken would meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Laos. In addition, Blinken will visit Viet Nam, Laos, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Mongolia.
It is likely that this will also be Blinken's last trip to Asia during Biden's tenure. Therefore, Blinken's trip is also aimed at bringing relations closer to Asia-Pacific countries and accelerating the strategic layout of United States in the Asia-Pacific region. Although this meeting with Wang Yi is not the highlight of Blinken's trip, it has also attracted attention from all walks of life.
However, after Wang Yi arrived in Laos, he did not meet with Blinken immediately, and held talks with the foreign ministers of four countries before that. On the first day of Wang Yi's arrival in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, he met with India Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
During the talks with Jaishankar, the two sides exchanged views on China-India relations and the current international situation. In recent years, the relations between China and India have not been stable, especially after the outbreak of conflicts on the border between China and India, the relations between the two countries have also deteriorated rapidly, and there has not been much relaxation so far.
Moreover, in the past two days, because of the cooperation forum between China and South Asia, it has also caused dissatisfaction on the part of India. Therefore, this time in front of Jaishankar, Wang Yi also said it thoroughly. Wang Yi said that China and India, as two major emerging economies and close neighbors, should promote the improvement, stability and sustainable development of bilateral relations with the wisdom of transcending contradictions, differences and frictions.
The next day, Wang Yi also met with Japan Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Korea Foreign Minister Cho Tei Yeol. During his talks with the foreign ministers of the three countries, Wang Yi stressed the importance of dialogue and communication, and asked them to establish a correct understanding of China. Obviously, in the current complex and volatile international situation, all countries need to strengthen communication and cooperation and reduce miscalculation and differences if they want to pursue development.
Although Japan, India, and South Korea all have large and small frictions with China, the relationship between them as neighbors is inseparable from each other. Therefore, taking advantage of this ASEAN summit, China has also made it clear in advance, so that these countries can clearly understand the current situation so that they will not be taken advantage of by people with good intentions.
However, the meeting between the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers is the most important thing than the meeting with the foreign ministers of the three countries. This time in Vientiane, China and Russia not only held a trilateral foreign ministers' meeting with Laos for the first time, but Wang Yi and Lavrov also held a separate meeting. During the tripartite meeting, the parties reached a consensus on further strengthening cooperation.
They are also willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation to jointly oppose power politics, resist bloc confrontation, practice multilateralism, and defend fairness and justice. China and Russia also stressed their support for ASEAN countries in firmly grasping the correct direction of East Asian cooperation. For China, Russia and Laos, the development of the three parties not only has a certain foundation, but also has great potential.
The China-Laos Railway + China-Europe Express directly opens up the railway passage from Russia to China to Laos, which not only promotes the development along the line, but also enables the three parties to maintain closer ties. Of course, the purpose of the meeting between China and Russia and Laos is to strengthen cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region in order to cope with external challenges.
In addition, China and Russia will also jointly do a major event this time, and Wang Yi and Lavrov also discussed matters related to the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of victory in World War II next year. At this juncture, China and Russia are discussing this matter with the intention of reminding all countries to face history squarely, remember history, and not let the flames of war reignite again.
This requires all parties to strengthen cooperation and communication, abandon the "Cold War zero-sum" mentality, and resist hegemony and bloc confrontation. Obviously, Wang Yi met with the foreign ministers of these countries before meeting Blinken this time, in order to strengthen the solidarity and cooperation of Asian countries and not allow some external forces to undermine regional peace and stability.