US 'pivot' as bankrupt diplomacy

Sep 19, 2012
By George Amurao
Asia Times Online

During United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent regional tour, America's top diplomat acknowledged the crucial role economic aid will play in the US's "pivot" towards Asia. Despite that recognition, Clinton failed to present concrete plans for a significant boost in non-military aid to allies in Southeast Asia, underscoring the US's fiscal straits and future ability to project financial power.

As the US bids to recalibrate its foreign policy more towards Asia, the world's lone superpower faces the dual challenge of China's growing military muscle and stores of soft power accumulated through years of checkbook diplomacy in the region. Unless the US is able to match or exceed China's economic and financial sweeteners, its "pivot" policy will come under rising criticism for its emphasis on strategic affairs.

China owes much of its power and influence in the region to generous hand outs and a fast growing economy, both of which have propelled economic growth across much of Southeast Asia during the wider global slowdown. While recent confrontations with the Philippines and Vietnam over contested territories in the South China Sea have raised concerns about China's long term intentions, its growing economic clout in the region has so far helped to cap those anxieties.

Wary US looks to calm rising tensions in Asia

By MATTHEW LEE | Associated Press – 09/08/2012

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AP) — Alarmed by a rise in nationalist sentiment around the Asia-Pacific, the Obama administration is looking for Russia to play a greater role in the region as it seeks to quell growing maritime tensions.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was to meet on Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin at meeting of Pacific Rim leaders to gauge Moscow's intentions as it looks increasingly eastward after decades of European orientation. U.S. officials say they would welcome a more active Russian role in the Asia-Pacific where territorial disputes, including between U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, sparked by nationalist rhetoric have fueled fears of conflict.

A senior U.S. official traveling with Clinton said Russia's engagement in the region has until now been "episodic," not very active and primarily focused on the six-nation effort to get North Korea to give up nuclear weapons.

China to Clinton: No Question of Sovereignty Over South China Sea

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (R) and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hold a news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, September 5, 2012.

06 September 2012
Scott Stearns, VOA Khmer

BEIJING — China says there is no questioning its sovereignty over waters and islands in the South China Sea, some of which are claimed by Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, and the Philippines. But Chinese officials told visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that they are willing to work with Southeast Asian nations to resolve the dispute peacefully.

Secretary Clinton discussed the South China Sea disputes with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi Wednesday.

China has been critical of outside involvement in the dispute, saying foreign governments are trying to divide the region. Speaking to reporters following their talks, Yang repeated China's insistence that this be resolved by the claimants themselves and made clear that China's position is unassailable.

​​The foreign minister says there is plentiful historic and legal evidence for China's sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and adjacent waters. As for disputes to those claims, he says these should be discussed by those directly concerned on the basis of respect for historic facts and international law, to be settled through "direct negotiation and friendly consultation."

China, U.S. divided over Syria, sea dispute, but vow goodwill

• Clinton and Yang upbeat despite tensions
• Island disputes create friction
• China paper suggests Washington trying to "sow discord"
• Both sides disagree on Syria, Iran

By Andrew Quinn

BEIJING, Sept 5 (Reuters) - China and the United States were divided on Wednesday over how to end the bloodshed in Syria and defuse tension in the South China Sea and other global troublespots, but stressed hope for steady ties as they navigate political transitions at home.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi vowed goodwill after talks which had been preceded by criticism from Beijing of Clinton's calls for a multilateral solution to the territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas.

Clinton told reporters that such disagreements did not have to hobble cooperation.

"I'm very proud of the strength and resilience that we have built into our relationship," she said after talks with Yang in the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

ASEAN struggles to cope with rival claims in the South China Sea

Protesters carrying China’s flag take part in a demonstration against Japan’s claims in the East China Sea. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

By Andrew Higgins, Monday, August 27, 2012
The Washington Post

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA — Thrown off balance by a cacophony of claims in the South China Sea, Southeast Asia is struggling to cope with the “big and heavy” presence of China and the United States in the region and needs to face up to growing security and political challenges, the secretary general of a regional group said in an interview.

Surin Pitsuwan was speaking Monday after the start of a meeting of economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the Cambodian town of Siem Reap. It was the first major gathering of regional officials since an acrimonious conclave last month that highlighted deep divisions created by China’s increasingly assertive territorial claims in the South China Sea and rhetorical blasts about the waterway from Beijing and Washington.

At the earlier meeting, in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, foreign ministers could not agree on the wording of a final communique for the first time since the regional association’s founding in 1967.

Pitsuwan, Thailand’s former foreign minister and head of ASEAN’s secretariat since 2008, said in an interview that he was surprised by the breakdown in Phnom Penh, where the group’s customary low-key pursuit of compromise gave way to testy deadlock amid complaints of microphones being abruptly disconnected and allegations of backstage meddling by China.

Present Conflicts Between China & US Signal’s Unpredictable Sign of the Times

The Guardian Express Newspaper (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA)

Contributor D. Chandler:

We’re at a strange time in history; where sanctions on Iran seems to make their leaders more resolute, while China is simultaneously flexing its might with confidence. Here in the U.S., it appears that we’re engaged as we increase sanctions on Iran and tell China we’re watching their slight of hand maneuvers. Along the backdrop, America has experienced the toughest economic decline since the Great Depression and even the weather has held us down with record temperatures hurling fire and brimstone in places never before seen. In the mist of our times of trouble we’re reminded that this time in history is foreshadowed by the native predictions on a Mayan stone calendar.

Specifically, Beijing is presently embroiled in a dangerous dispute with their Asian Pacific neighbors over the South China Sea. In recent hours China’s rhetoric directed at a recent State Department Press Release has tensions dangerously high. The Asia-Pacific website, ft.com, reporting just hours ago that “China and the US stepped up their war of words over territorial deputes in the South China Sea… with the Chinese foreign ministry calling in senior US diplomat to protest [recent] remarks by the US state department.

Reuter’s reported that Beijing determined that statements made by the U.S. in the press were disappointing. The news agency specifically said that the State Department finds “that China’s establishing of a military garrison for the area runs ‘counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region.’”

China calls in U.S. diplomat over South China Sea

08-05-2012
By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry has called in a senior U.S. diplomat to protest against remarks by the U.S. State Department raising concerns over tensions in the contested South China Sea, further intensifying an already fraught territorial dispute.

In a statement released late on Saturday, China's Foreign Ministry said Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Kunsheng summoned the U.S. Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Wang to make "serious representations" about the issue.

The State Department on Friday said it was monitoring the situation in the seas closely, adding that China's establishment of a military garrison for the area runs "counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region".

The South China Sea has become Asia's biggest potential military flashpoint. Beijing's sovereignty claim over the huge area has set it against Vietnam and the Philippines as the three countries race to tap possibly huge oil reserves.

M'am You Ay fielding another reply to the Bangkok Post

Ambassador replies

30/07/2012
Bangkok Post

I wish to clear up some points of misperception written by Thitinan Pongsudhirak in the opinion section of the Bangkok Post on July 27 entitled "Asean rifts widen as China, US rivalry grows".

First, those who said the Peace Palace was ''funded and adorned by Chinese arts'' are simply ignorant people.

The building's construction was fully funded with the national budget of Cambodia and its internal adornments reflect quintessential Khmer ancient art forms.

The building was designed and built by young Cambodian architects and engineers. China provided assistance only for the construction of the adjacent building and not the Peace Palace.

China, US widen Asean rifts

27/07/2012
Thitinan Pongsudhirak
Bangkok Post

The post-mortems of the failure by Asean to agree on a hitherto routine joint statement after their 45th Ministerial Meeting are coming in thick and heavy. Recriminations and acrimony are crisscrossing the region, the shockwaves being felt and analysed across the Pacific and to the Atlantic.

Although keen to show a united front, Asean’s feckless attempt to forge a united statement on the South China Sea issue reflects deep divisions in the regional group and the influence of China and the United States on some of its members.

The annual ministerial joint communiques are as old as Asean itself. Its unprecedented absence is thus a serious setback for the 10-member organisation, a crucial blow to its credibility and coherence in the lead-up to its much-vaunted Asean Community by 2015. While the diplomatic damage incurred in Phnom Penh will be glossed over in Asean capitals, serious and effective efforts beyond damage-control are needed before the Asean summit and its related top-level meetings with other major partners are held in November.

Kishore Mahbubani: Is China Losing the Diplomatic Plot?

Professor Kishore Mahbubani was ranked on Foreign Policy magazine's list of the world's top 100 thinkers. He believes China is losing the diplomatic plot at a time when it needs it most. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO

Jul 27, 2012
Straits Times (Singapore)

For the first time in 45 years, the Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) failed to agree to a joint communique, ostensibly because Asean's current chair, Cambodia, did not want the communique to refer to bilateral disputes in the South China Sea. But the whole world, including most Asean countries, perceived Cambodia's stance as the result of enormous Chinese pressure.

SINGAPORE - In 2016, China's share of the global economy will be larger than America's in purchasing-price-parity terms. This is an earth-shaking development; in 1980, when the United States accounted for 25% of world output, China's share of the global economy was only 2.2%. And yet, after 30 years of geopolitical competence, the Chinese seem to be on the verge of losing it just when they need it most.

China's leaders would be naive and foolish to bank on their country's peaceful and quiet rise to global preeminence. At some point, America will awaken from its geopolitical slumber; there are already signs that it has opened one eye.

But China has begun to make serious mistakes. After Japan acceded to Chinese pressure and released a captured Chinese trawler in September 2010, China went overboard and demanded an apology from Japan, rattling the Japanese establishment.

Similarly, after North Korean shells killed innocent South Korean civilians in November 2010, China remained essentially silent. In a carefully calibrated response, South Korea sent its ambassador to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for the imprisoned Chinese human-rights activist Liu Xiaobo in December 2010.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Paper Tiger

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Asean Members ‘Must Unite or Fall’

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa addressing the United Nations in New York on Sept. 24, 2009. (Photo: CTBTO Conference)

THE JAKARTA GLOBE | July 24, 2012

Even though Asean finally managed to come out with a joint statement following its regional summit last week, a fickle unity will continue to undermine the grouping as long as it fails to address domestic problems in each of its member states, observers have said.

Aleksius Jemadu, dean of Pelita Harapan University’s School of Social and Political Sciences, said that as long as China and the United States could help Asean countries more than they could help themselves, the regional bloc would always face the threat of disunity.

“We can see it clearly in Cambodia’s case,” he said. “[Prime Minister] Hun Sen needs China’s help in developing Cambodia’s economy while Asean offers nothing in regards to this issue. That’s why they will reject any statement they think will make China angry.”

The same is true for the Philippines and the United States, he said.

Will SE Asia become a battleground?

By Tommy Koh
Global Times | 2012-7-22

Recently the foreign ministers of China and the US met with their ASEAN counterparts in Phnom Penh. Several thought-provoking questions were raised. First, are China and the US competing for influence in Southeast Asia? Second, can Southeast Asia manage this competition without compromising ASEAN's neutrality and jeopardizing regional peace? Third, will China and the US turn Southeast Asia into a battleground?

First, China and the US are certainly competing for influence in Southeast Asia. They are, however, not alone in this competition. Japan, India, Russia and the EU are also involved.

Who is ahead? It is hard to say. In the area of trade, for example, China has become the top trading partner for some ASEAN countries. In recent years, China has also substantially increased its FDI in ASEAN, especially in Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. As for overseas development assistance (ODA), my impression is that, in recent years, China has overtaken Japan as the No. 1 provider of ODA to ASEAN. In the area of peace and security, the US remains the pre-eminent military power. The US also enjoys great prestige because of its attractive soft power. Many in the region look to the US for comfort when faced with China's challenges.

China’s Big Win

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012
Voice of America

Maneuverings at ASEAN over South China Sea Dispute Leaves Hard Feelings

China scored a diplomatic win this past week when foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations failed to agree on a unified approach to the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

But Beijing’s win wasn’t unqualified. The fervor of the debate at the ASEAN meeting in Cambodia showed that some nations with rival claims in the region, most notably Vietnam, don’t intend to let China push them around.

Chinese officials seemed confident all along that they could dodge any tough action by ASEAN on a code of conduct in addressing the rival claims over the South China Sea. Maybe that was because they had the summit host, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, backing their strategy to keep the dispute out of the regional forum.

“We believe the South China Sea issue is not an issue between China and the ASEAN,” said the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin. “It is an issue between China and certain ASEAN members.”

Asean's non-action

15/07/2012
Bangkok Post
EDITORIAL

It is not at all surprising that the foreign ministers and heads of state of Asean could not come to any agreement over the territorial disputes in the South China Sea at their meeting in Phnom Penh.

The failure to take a stand was basically a reaffirmation of the traditional Asean core value of non-interference. This is the policy which brought international criticism for many years to Asean with regard to its reluctance to address human rights abuses in its member states, particularly in Myanmar.

But there was another and probably much more important factor that encouraged non-action in Phnom Penh. Along the sidelines the meeting became a skirmish in a regional power struggle between two superpowers, China and the United States, and Asean leaders perhaps understandably are unwilling to appear to be taking sides.

Both China and the US sent high-level emissaries to the conference. The US team was headed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She met foreign ministers in an attempt to persuade them to send a clear message to China that the Asean group rejects its increasingly strident maritime claims, but in the end she was disappointed.

Besides the Philippines and Vietnam, which have ongoing maritime disputes with China, Indonesia and Singapore were on board with a statement reflecting a compromise position, one with a non-confrontational tone, but the rest of the group waffled.

Most importantly, the foreign minister of the host country, Hor Namhong, declined to go along with a compromise, saying it was a ''matter of principle'' for Asean not to take sides in bilateral disputes.

ASEAN summit breaks up amid feuding over South China Sea

By Peter Symonds
Global Research, July 16, 2012
World Socialist Web Site - 2012-07-14

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial summit broke up yesterday in acrimony after failing to reach agreement over worsening maritime disputes with China in the South China Sea. Without a consensus, no joint communiqué was released for the first time in the organisation’s 45-year history.

The diplomatic impasse is the product of the Obama administration’s aggressive “pivot” to Asia over the past three years, aimed at undercutting China’s influence throughout the region. Encouraged by the US government, the Philippines and Vietnam have taken a more assertive stance over their claims in the South China Sea, leading to heated disputes with China.

The US has put Beijing on the back foot by pushing ASEAN to adopt a common Code of Conduct as the basis for discussions with China over the maritime disputes. This multilateral approach, aimed at strengthening the position of the US and its allies, cuts directly across previous efforts by China to resolve differences with South East Asian countries on a bilateral basis.

South China Sea negotiations damage ASEAN's reputation

China says "strategic pressure" from the United States is not conducive to Asia's development, nor to America's long term interests.

16 July 2012

ABC Radio Australia

A Xinhua editorial says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Asia trip, which took her to Afghanistan, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, was nothing more than an attempt at "diplomatic encirclement".

The statement by China's official government news agency came as the ASEAN ministerial meeting ended in disarray with no consensus on the wording of a final communique.

Agreement reached some days earlier on a joint code of conduct to deal with territorial disputes in the South China Sea appears to have quickly fallen apart, amid China's refusal to negotiate with ASEAN as a group.

Presenter: Richard Ewart

Speaker: Rory Medcalf, international security analyst, Lowy Institute

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SE Asia meeting in disarray over sea dispute with China

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong addresses the closing ceremony of the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom Penh July 13, 2012. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa (C) chats with ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan (L) near Laos Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisulith (R) and Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong (2nd L) before the closing ceremony of the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom Penh July 13, 2012. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

By Prak Chan Thul and Stuart Grudgings
Reuters – july , 13,2012

The Philippines said it took "strong exception" to Cambodia's statement that the non-issuance of a communique was due to "bilateral conflict between some ASEAN member states and a neighboring country".

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A Southeast Asian regional summit ended in acrimony on Friday over China's assertive role in the strategic South China Sea, failing to agree on a concluding joint statement for the first time in its 45-year history.

Divisions between the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) follow a rise in incidents of naval brinkmanship involving Chinese vessels in the oil-rich waters that has sparked fears of a military clash.

The Philippines said it "deplores" ASEAN's failure to address the worsening row, and criticized Cambodia -- a close ally of China -- for its handling of the issue during the foreign ministers' meeting.

Without mentioning China, Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario told a news conference in Manila that one "member state's" intrusions into Philippine territory were part of a "creeping imposition" of its claim over the entire South China Sea and were raising the risk of a conflict.

ASEAN Talks Focus on S. China Sea Disputes

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, listens to Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, right, during their meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 12, 2012. (Photo: AP)

Thursday, 12 July 2012
Irwin Loy, VOA | Phnom Penh

“It looks like [China] they’re becoming more aggressive every day.”

PHNOM PENH — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined senior South East Asian officials for high-level discussions in Cambodia Thursday. Ministers attending the Association of South East Asian Nations’ meetings have sought to downplay friction between member states and China all week. Yet, behind the scenes, simmering tensions from maritime disputes continue to contrast with the ministers’ public assurances of mutual cooperation.

Coming into this week’s meetings, analysts predicted tensions about the South China Sea would form a major part of discussions here. That dispute puts four ASEAN nations with competing territorial claims up against China, which claims most of the body of water.

But this week saw more controversies emerge, beyond ASEAN’s boundaries. Japan announced it had launched a formal protest with China, after Chinese vessels approached the Senkaku Islands, a set of remote islands claimed by both countries.

Clinton takes swipe at China aid to Cambodia

The United States is committed to helping ordinary Cambodians rather than funding vanity projects, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday, in a subtle dig at China-backed schemes in the country

AFP – July, 12 ,2012

The United States is committed to helping ordinary Cambodians rather than funding vanity projects, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday, in a subtle dig at China-backed schemes in the country.

"The United States remains strongly committed to working with and supporting Cambodian people," Clinton told reporters after attending a regional security forum in the capital Phnom Penh.

"Sometimes it is a little frustrating, I will admit, for the United States because we channel our aid in so far as possible to the people themselves," she said.

"So we cannot point to a big building we have built. But we can point to more children being alive, more people surviving HIV/Aids, more women surviving child birth."