JakartaPost/Reuters-Sept 6, 2023
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday it is important to avoid a “new Cold War” when dealing with conflicts between countries as world leaders gathered in Indonesia amid sharpening geopolitical rivalries across the Indo-Pacific region. Speaking at an annual summit involving members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and South Korea, Li said countries needed to “appropriately handle differences and disputes”. “At present, it is very important to oppose taking sides, bloc confrontation and a new Cold War,” Li told the meeting. ASEAN, which has warned of the danger of getting dragged into major powers’ disputes, is also holding wider talks with with Li, US Vice President Kamala Harris, and leaders of various partner countries including Japan, South Korea, Australia, and India. Neither US President Joe Biden nor his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is attending the summit. High on the agenda at the gatherings in Jakarta is concern about China’s increasingly assertive activity in the South China Sea, an important trade corridor in which several ASEAN members have claims that conflict with China’s. ASEAN this week discussed with China accelerating negotiations on a long-discussed code of conduct for the waterway, said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi of the ASEAN chair, Indonesia. The 10 members of ASEAN held their summit earlier in the week with leaders seeking to assert the bloc’s relevance in the face of criticism it is failing to press Myanmar’s military leaders to cooperate on a plan for peace in their strife-torn country. ASEAN member Myanmar has been gripped by violence since the generals overthrew an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in early 2021. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/world/2023/09/06/china-warns-against-new-cold-war-at-asean-summit.html.
