U.S., ASEAN vow to forge “comprehensive” partnership amid China rise

WASHINGTON – The leaders of the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Friday declared that they will elevate their relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” later this year amid China’s growing military and economic clout in the region.

In a joint statement issued after a two-day summit in Washington, the two sides also called for “respect for sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity” in relation to the war in Ukraine, without explicitly naming Russia.

Welcoming the 45th anniversary of the relationship this year, the statement said, “We commit to establish an ASEAN-U.S. Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that is meaningful, substantive, and mutually beneficial at the 10th ASEAN-U.S. Summit in November 2022.”

The U.S. administration of President Joe Biden is seeking to step up its engagement with the fast-growing region, apparently to counter China that it believes is seeking to mark out a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific.

During the summit, the Biden administration pledged over $150 million of investment in ASEAN for maritime security, infrastructure and other initiatives.

“We’re not only celebrating 45 years of partnership and friendship between ASEAN and the United States, we’re launching a new era in U.S.-ASEAN relations,” Biden said at the meeting on Friday.

It is the first time that the United States has hosted the leaders of the 10-member group in the U.S capital. ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

China is ASEAN’s biggest trade partner, but its assertive behavior has also created friction, with Beijing having conflicting territorial claims with four members of the bloc — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — as well as Taiwan in the South China Sea, a key waterway for global trade.

ASEAN represents the world’s fourth-largest market and the United States is its biggest source of foreign direct investment. Their two-way trade amounted to over $360 billion in 2020, according to the U.S. government.