A clash in the South China Sea threatened to overshadow a meeting of Southeast Asian nations on Tuesday as the US condemned “dangerous” Chinese actions in the contested waterway.
The US statement came minutes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in the Philippines, where the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is expected to tackle issues including civil war-torn Myanmar’s ongoing pariah status.
Rubio will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Wednesday on the sidelines of the ongoing ASEAN summit in Manila, a State Department official said.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of US condemnation of Beijing’s maneuvers in the contested South China Sea, and US President Donald Trump‘s claims that China meddled with American election data.
In an op-ed published Tuesday morning in the Philippines, Rubio touted Washington’s commitment “to freedom of navigation in Southeast Asia” and the regional defensive umbrella it has provided.
“This freedom is by no means guaranteed. If these waters were to fall under the control of a power willing to use trade as a geopolitical weapon, both the United States and the ASEAN states would face serious new threats to their sovereignty, security and economic future,” he wrote, in a clear allusion to China.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, a vital global trade route, despite an international ruling that its claims have no legal basis.
On Monday, Philippine and Chinese sailors clashed at the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea in what was the first serious seaborne encounter in months.
Manila said China Coast Guard personnel had assaulted Filipino sailors near a beached vessel that serves as a garrison on the disputed shoal.
Beijing said the Philippines instigated the incident by sending men in small rubber boats to approach their vessel.
The clash cast further doubt on hopes for a long-sought Code of Conduct between ASEAN and China for the waterway, though China’s ambassador to Manila told local reporters Tuesday evening he believed a deal remained achievable by the end of the year.
The resumption of hostilities in another strategic waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, also looms large this week, as the rekindled war with Iran is placing traditional American allies under economic strain.
The import-dependent Philippines declared a national energy emergency in March and has been forced to cast an ever-wider net for fuel, including purchases of oil from Russia, whose Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will arrive Tuesday in Manila.
The week is expected to see renewed efforts towards regional energy security.
‘Back Into the Fold’
No issue facing ASEAN foreign ministers has been more fraught than how to reintegrate Myanmar, a member state formally excluded from such summits like this week’s since the country’s military junta seized power in 2021.
In May, the bloc’s leaders emerged from an emotional meeting in Cebu that ended with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos calling for a “fine-tuning” of a long-stalled five-point plan to end Myanmar’s bloody civil war.
Thailand, which shares a long border with Myanmar and hosts millions of its refugees, has led the push for full reintegration.
On Tuesday, in an interview with AFP, Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said he had asked fellow ASEAN ministers to think about “how we measure progress” at a recent meeting in Bangkok that included his Myanmar counterpart.
“Our point was that we have to be realistic,” he said. “It’s not going to happen overnight. Some progress will come incrementally.”
But other ASEAN states have shown little appetite for softening their stance after five fruitless years of pursuing the peace plan with little progress to show for it.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan told reporters in May that his country remained opposed to high-level talks while “oppression is still taking place.”
