VIENTIANE, Laos: Mr Blinken has assailed the Chinese actions in the South China Sea as increasingly dangerous during a scathing address to ASEAN leaders on Friday. According to him, the U.S. has welcomed freedom of navigation in the area, at the same time warning of the dangers being posed by the aggressive China behaviour whereby individual lives are being wounded and vessels from ASEAN nations are being damaged.

Speaking at the 12th ASEAN-U.S. Summit, Blinken stated, “We remain deeply concerned by China’s increasingly dangerous and unlawful actions in the South and East China Seas. These actions are not in line with China’s commitments to respect freedom of navigation and overflight by international law and have caused harm to ASEAN nations.” In that regard as well, he reiterated that “the United States will continue to advance free and open transit through the Indo-Pacific region.”.

Blinken also pointed out the U.S. aspect of stability in the Taiwan Strait as it saw a couple of days of rising tension over China’s repudiation of some statements made by Taiwan’s president earlier during the week. “Cooperation between the United States and ASEAN has been important for preserving peace and stability in the region,” he said.

That includes talks regarding an ongoing dispute in the South China Sea, particularly China’s claims and aggressive moves. The Philippines was just one of the member states of ASEAN that sounded a special alarm over bloody incidents within contested waters as China continued to assert its dominance in the strategic waterway.

Another serious issue that emerged during the summit was Myanmar which, for the first time in more than three years, attended the ASEAN meeting. Blinken expressed an interest in meeting and discussing the deteriorating situation in Myanmar, referring to this country by its official name instead of the previous one-Burma-to denote the military junta actions since the 2021 coup.

At the briefing, Blinken implored the Southeast Asia countries to be resolute against Russia’s war on Ukraine. He urged them to articulate a united stance against Russia’s “aggression war” as he looks forward to the East Asia Summit, also scheduled to be attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Blinken meeting with ASEAN leaders presented an opportunity to reaffirm alliances with Southeast Asia while framing these efforts in a shared background of common concerns with what China is doing and the other geopolitical challenges facing the region.

Blinken’s comments fall under a new commitment by the United States to side with ASEAN at a time of rising tensions with China. But he also underlined the importance of multilateralism in ensuring that the rules of international law are upheld and regional stability is not disrupted by war in a war-torn world.