According to the interpretation of the German news agency (DPA), Washington wants to take this step to counter China’s influence in the region.
Biden announced that the US government wants to launch an investment promotion program of $850 million “to strengthen ASEAN and develop transportation and telecommunications infrastructure in Southeast Asia.” He declared, “ASEAN is the centerpiece of my government’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific.” We will make the ocean region “a free, open, stable, growing, resilient and secure region of the world.” He said the cooperation would include, for example, an “integrated electric vehicle network” in Southeast Asia as part of the fight against global warming.
China, the largest economic and military rival of the United States, concluded the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement with ASEAN last year, and this week Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who holds the ASEAN presidency, to develop it to a higher level.
According to the German news agency (dpa) At the ASEAN summit, Biden is already preparing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping face-to-face for the first time at the G20 summit in Indonesia on Monday.
Biden kicked off his program in Phnom Penh on Saturday with a bilateral meeting with the host, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. They discussed economic cooperation, as well as issues of human rights and military security from Washington’s point of view. The White House announced that the US President had asked Hun Zenith to “make civil and political life free” even before the 2023 elections. The German news agency (dpa) noted that Cambodia is a nominally democratic country but is in fact an authoritarian regime. Washington’s military and security concern relates to the Ream naval base, as it suspects that a Chinese base is being built there. However, Cambodian officials say the development is simply a Sino-Cambodian cooperation.
Cover photo: US President Joe Biden at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, and US Summit in Phnom Penh on November 12, 2022. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken (B) and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (K) are shown in the background. Source: MTI / EPA / Kith Serey
