US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday sharply criticized China’s “increasingly dangerous and unlawful actions” in the dispute over territorial claims in the South China Sea.
These had “injured people, damaged ASEAN ships and contradicted commitments to peaceful resolution of disputes,” Blinken said at the summit of heads of state and government of the organization’s members in the Laotian capital Vientiane.
Founded in 1967, ASEAN is a political and economic union of ten countries in Southeast Asia, with a combined population of approximately 600 million people.
Blinken was responding to repeated incidents in the disputed South China Sea, mainly between the Chinese coast guard and Philippine ships.
The Chinese regularly use water cannons and clashes have already occurred. Recently, the Chinese Air Force carried out provocative maneuvers in the region and fired flares near a Philippine Air Force transport aircraft.
China considers virtually the entire South China Sea its territorial waters. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei reject the claims, citing a 2016 ruling by the UN arbitration tribunal, but China does not recognize the ruling.
The resource-rich area is also considered an important global trade route.
On Thursday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called on ASEAN members and the government in Beijing to speed up talks on a planned “code of conduct” for the South China Sea.
Marcos stressed that it was regrettable that the situation remained tense and unchanged.
“We continue to be subjected to harassment and intimidation,” he said. “Parties must be sincerely open to seriously managing disagreements and reducing tensions.”
According to the US Secretary of State, there was no direct meeting between Blinken and Lavrov. However, the summit participants all made it clear that the war in Ukraine must end.