East Asia Summit calls for cooperation, mutual trust defying US noises: expert

The 19th East Asia Summit (EAS), one of a series of major ASEAN Summit-related meetings, was held in the Lao capital Vientiane on Friday, with the focus on strengthening cooperation under the EAS framework to foster mutual understanding and mutual trust.

While China and most regional countries are calling for tranquility, common prosperity, openness and interconnectivity, US politicians have not stopped their threadbare tactic of sowing discord between China and the regional countries by hyping up the South China Sea issue, with an outdated confrontational mentality against China. 

Chinese experts said the signal of unity and cooperation sent by China and ASEAN countries at a time of sluggish global economic growth and challenges to peace and security could inject more momentum and certainty into the regional and even global economy. 

Common aspiration 

Addressing the EAS on Friday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang called on all parties to uphold peace and tranquility, pursue mutual benefit and win-win results, and firmly promote opening up and cooperation. 

China is willing to work with all parties to further promote the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and focus on building a community with a shared future for mankind, Li said. 

He also called for the speeding up of the building of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, advancing regional economic integration, and avoiding turning economic and trade issues into political and security issues.

The 19th EAS was attended by leaders and representatives from ASEAN countries, and China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the US. 

Addressing the summit, Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone said the EAS is inseparable from the ASEAN-centered regional architecture, adding that EAS cooperation has made considerable progress and broadened significantly over the past 19 years. 

Representing the host country, the Lao Prime Minister stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation under the EAS framework to foster mutual understanding, mutual trust and mutual confidence, which are key elements to the shared objectives of peace, stability and sustainable development.

He said that the ASEAN Summit and related summits have adopted and noted more than 90 outcome documents, emphasizing the importance of ASEAN collective efforts to ensure the continuity of ASEAN Community building process.

According to Zhu Feng, director of the Institute of International Studies at Nanjing University, the EAS and other ASEAN-related summits convened at a time when many parts of the world are in turmoil, with the US' future Asia policy being filled with uncertainty, which gives the series of meetings great significance.

The overall tone of the ASEAN meetings is positive, with both China and the vast majority of Southeast Asian countries stressing the need to strengthen cooperation and connectivity, said Zhu, noting that an open region has always been an important foundation for China and ASEAN countries to maintain regional peace and stability.

Song Qingrun, a senior research fellow from the School of Asian Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times that relevant remarks made during the summit fully reflect the basic consensus of the majority of Asia-Pacific countries in hoping to expand cooperation and jointly promote peace and development.

"The Asia-Pacific region is an important engine for global economic growth. If regional countries can further develop good relations and expand cooperation, it will inject more momentum and certainty into the regional and global economy," said Song. 

At a time of sluggish global economic growth and peace and security being challenged, there is a great need for signals of unity and cooperation, which will boost confidence and drive more sustained and substantive cooperation, Song noted. 

In his opening remarks addressing the 27th China-ASEAN Summit on Thursday, Premier Li announced that negotiations on the Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) have achieved a substantial conclusion. 

In remarks addressing the 27th ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Summit on the same day, Premier Li said China is ready to work with ASEAN, Japan, South Korea and other Asian countries to uphold the Asian consciousness, carry forward the Oriental wisdom, and steadily move forward toward building an Asia of peace and tranquility, common prosperity, openness and interconnectivity. 

Unpopular outsider

Despite the calls and efforts for making enduring peace and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, in sharp contrast, US officials continuously made jarring remarks targeting China, which appeared at odds with the general atmosphere of the ASEAN events.

During his meeting with leaders of ASEAN member countries on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hyped up hotspot issues, saying that the US is concerned about "China's increasingly dangerous and unlawful actions" in South China Sea, per an AP report. 

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday that China and parties to the South China Sea have every capability and wisdom to properly address disputes through dialogue and consultation, and jointly get the situation at sea under control.

"The US and individual countries outside the region are upgrading deployment of weapons and military activities in the South China Sea to incite confrontation and create tensions. They are the biggest source of instability in the South China Sea," Mao said.

Blinken also noted on Friday that the US "will continue to support freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight in the Indo-Pacific," and hopes to work with ASEAN leaders to "protect stability across the Taiwan Straits."

Blinken's remarks suggest that the Biden administration is looking to leave a legacy in terms of Asia-Pacific policy through further containment and suppression of China, but the ASEAN Summits and its related meetings reflect the stark fact that the narrow-minded US hegemony is unpopular in the Asia Pacific and its related policy will not receive substantial support in the region, experts said.

The vast majority of regional countries are fully aware that the bloc confrontation that the US is inciting in the region poses a great threat to Asia-Pacific integration and prosperity, and thus they are unwilling to become victims of the great power competition, Zhu said. 

The US was also advertising its promises during the slew of ASEAN occasions. In a White House statement released after the US-ASEAN Summit, the US government listed so-called major accomplishments under the comprehensive strategic partnership with ASEAN, saying that Washington has made "significant progress" in fulfilling its promises. 

Despite US efforts to woo ASEAN, the bloc's members are quite rational about their proper position in the China-US competition, which is in line with their own interests, Zhu said, "More importantly, a peaceful rising China is an inseparable cooperative partner of ASEAN's development."

China has been ASEAN's top trading partner for 15 consecutive years, and ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for four years in a row. Two-way trade increased by 10.5 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2024, official data shows. 

The spillover of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the ongoing Ukraine crisis have brought great harm to world economic growth and people's livelihoods, which Asian countries are keenly wary of, Song said. 

The close economic and trade cooperation between ASEAN and China has become an important driving force for regional economic growth, Song said, noting that amid the world's turmoil, maintaining cooperation and peaceful development serves the greatest common interests and aspirations of all parties.