In latest US move vs. China, Pompeo stirs up division in Southeast Asia

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used his platform at the annual foreign ministers’ summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on September 10 to bash China and stir up trouble in a region 8,000 miles away from his office in Washington, D.C. Pompeo urged the members of ASEAN, a 10-nation regional cooperation bloc founded in 1967, to “Reconsider business dealing with the very state-owned companies that bully ASEAN coastal states in the South China Sea.” By “bully[ing] ASEAN coastal states”, Pompeo was referring to competing territorial claims by China and its neighbors to the waters of the South China Sea. The Chinese government and publicly-owned Chinese companies have constructed facilities in these disputed areas in recent years, as have other countries involved in the disputes. This is not a new strategy for Washington — by inflaming this hot-button issue, the Secretary of State hopes to isolate China diplomatically and economically in order to preserve U.S. dominance in East Asia and beyond. Liberation News spoke with K.J. Noh, a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of Asia, about Pompeo’s actions at the summit and their significance. On the issue of construction in contested territory, Noh explained, “China is not unique regarding construction or claims in the South China Sea. Five out of six of the claimants to the South China Sea have built facilities on contested Islands, including airstrips and other military facilities. The contested claims to the South China Sea among the various nations themselves bisect, tri-sect, quadri-sect — they are simply not just about China.” Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/in-latest-us-move-vs-china-pompeo-stirs-up-division-in-southeast-asia/