Zhou Xin: The United States returns to Southeast Asia, "new bottle" contains "bad wine"

Source: World Wide Web

Since the Biden administration came to power, it has changed its previous "disregard" for Its Southeast Asian partners, from the intensive visits of US Vice President Harris, Secretary of Defense Austin, and Executive Vice Secretary of State Sherman to defense, trade and investment, and other fields. In essence, the series of offensives launched by the United States against Southeast Asia are aimed at priing up the Southeast Asian fulcrum of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" and ultimately achieving the goal of isolating and containing China.

So, what "wine" is in the "new bottle" of the US Southeast Asia policy?

The first is the "wine" of gangs and gangs. The United States draws lines with ideology and values, and engages in clique politics and exclusive circles under the guise of "multilateralism." From the "Five Eyes Alliance" to the "Quad" mechanism( to the UNITED STATES, Britain and Australia Trilateral Security Partnership (AUKUS), the circle of the United States and Latin America is getting smaller and smaller, the number is increasing, the confrontation between major powers is becoming heavier and heavier, and the Asian version of the anti-China "small NATO" is about to come out. To hedge the impact of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the United States has taken a different approach, drafting an Asia-Pacific digital trade agreement to try to exclude China. These gang-and-factional moves fully serve the geostrategic strategy of the United States to contain China, and are a resurgence of the Cold War mentality. Regional countries have suffered from the cold war, and the opportunities for development have not come easily, so how can they be willing to set off a "new Cold War" again. The United States also proposed to hold a "Global Democracy Summit" at the end of the year, which was ridiculed by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov as a "New Crusade" launched against countries that did not agree with the American concept.

The second is the "wine" of interference and destruction. The good situation of China-ASEAN cooperation and the strong momentum of cooperation have made the United States like a fish in the throat, and the United States has constantly challenged China's sovereignty and security interests and undermined China-ASEAN relations on the pretext of protecting regional national security and safeguarding the maritime rights and interests of regional countries. In August, when US Secretary of State Blinken attended a series of foreign ministers' meetings on East Asian cooperation, he instigated individual ASEAN countries to hype up the South China Sea issue, and held a meeting of Mekong River Basin countries with smuggled goods. Recently, during the UN General Assembly, the United States lobbied regional countries to jointly sign the "Western Pacific Maritime Principles Statement", flipped the so-called South China Sea arbitration case ruling, attacked China's legitimate rights and interests in the South China Sea, exaggerated and hyped up tensions in the South China Sea, and exposed the purpose of disrupting the South China Sea and separating China-ASEAN relations, which caused widespread concern among regional countries.

The third is the "wine" of picking quarrels and provoking troubles. In order to safeguard its hegemonic position and its own selfish interests, the United States wants to build Southeast Asia into an anti-China frontier. Recently, the United States has frequently summoned allies to sharpen their guns to show strength. Since August, the navies of the United States, Australia, Japan and India have held the annual "Malabar" joint military exercise in the Philippine Sea, and the six countries of the United States, Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, Canada, and New Zealand have conducted joint military exercises near the South China Sea. In September, the United States, Britain and Australia announced the establishment of AUKUS and supported Australia in building nuclear submarines, which is a complete military alliance, the core of which is an important part of the US "Indo-Pacific Strategy", which will not only have a huge impact on the Treaty on the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, but also aggravate the regional arms race and threaten regional security, which has attracted the vigilance and opposition of many countries.

The fourth is the "wine" of the hustle and bustle. The United States pays lip service to supporting the central position of ASEAN, but in fact it is weakening the influence of ASEAN, emptying the status of ASEAN, and building a regional structure and pattern under the leadership of the United States. The United States cobbled together AUKUS and QUAD, and did not consider the interests and concerns of Southeast Asian countries. At QUAD's first offline summit, the joint statement issued seems to focus on many topics such as anti-epidemic cooperation, infrastructure and technological development, and there is no lack of words of "inclusiveness and openness", but it emphasizes that the premise of "like-mindedness" and "common values" runs counter to the inclusive concept and peace concept advocated by ASEAN, seriously impacting the central position of ASEAN. To truly win the trust of Southeast Asia, the United States should respect its internal differences and sovereign rights and interests, cultural traditions and values, and respect the diplomatic tradition of the "ASEAN way" in handling Southeast Asia's internal affairs, rather than kidnapping and coercing them and exacerbating their resentment and anxiety.

Let's look at the 30 years since China and ASEAN established dialogue relations, and have embarked on a road of unity and win-win cooperation, and offered sweet and sweet "fine wine". Politically, China regards ASEAN as a priority direction for its peripheral diplomacy, firmly supports the construction of the ASEAN community and the central position of ASEAN in regional cooperation, and ASEAN's strength and influence have been substantially enhanced. Economically, the scale of China-ASEAN trade has expanded 85 times, and they are already each other's largest trading partners. The two sides jointly promote the signing of RCEP to build the world's most populous, economically largest and most promising free trade zone, benefiting more than 2 billion people in 11 countries. In terms of anti-epidemic cooperation, in the face of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, China has delivered nearly 190 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 10 ASEAN countries, and the two sides have carried out fruitful cooperation in anti-epidemic material assistance, vaccine production and research and development, and stability of the industrial chain supply chain. In terms of security, the two sides have actively implemented the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, insisted that the direct parties properly manage differences and disputes through dialogue and consultation, accelerated the consultation on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, steadily carried out maritime cooperation, and jointly maintained peace and stability. Humanistically, the two sides have learned from each other's civilizations and coexisted harmoniously, with more than 65 million people in personnel exchanges between the two sides every year before the epidemic.

In strong contrast, the judgment is made. Some people say that some countries in Southeast Asia are keen on engaging in "great power balance," and some countries are waiting for prices to sell, trying to reap profits in Sino-US competition. However, southeast Asian countries' sense of independence and autonomy in the diplomatic field is no longer what it used to be, and they will remain "sober", grasp "proportions", and avoid becoming cannon fodder in the Sino-US game. Therefore, in the face of the us pressing step by step, or explicit or covert pressure, Philippine President Duterte, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Shao Ken, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retino and other Southeast Asian countries have made it clear that they are not willing to take sides between China and the United States. There are also Southeast Asian political statements, Biden wants to repair the damage to relations caused by Trump is normal, but to contain China as the starting point, it will inevitably make regional countries feel uncomfortable, and it is more in the interests of the region to carry out cooperation with China.

Drinking bad wine will definitely hurt the body, and the mellow mash is even more intoxicating. The United States is bound to encircle Southeast Asian countries in their plots to stir up trouble, and it is doomed to waste efforts. The China-ASEAN road of friendship and neighborliness will surely become wider and wider, and the Asian values of unity, cooperation, openness and inclusiveness will certainly be passed on to Hengyuan. (Chinese Scholar of International Studies Zhou Xin)