Global Courant
WASHINGTON — Washington hopes to rally Southeast Asian nations to take tougher action against Myanmar’s military junta and push back China’s actions in the South China Sea, as top US diplomat Antony Blinken heads to the region next week for meetings, a State Department official. said Friday.
Secretary of State Blinken will travel to Indonesia to take part in a meeting of foreign ministers from the ASEAN regional bloc after joining President Joe Biden in the United Kingdom and Lithuania for NATO meetings from Sunday to Wednesday.
Mr Daniel Kritenbrink, the top foreign ministry official for East Asia, told reporters that Myanmar, which had been thrown into chaos by a military coup in 2021, would be “one of the most important issues” being discussed in Jakarta .
ASEAN has banned Myanmar’s ruling generals from its high-level meetings, but Thailand has suggested re-engaging with the junta.
“We expect our friends and partners in ASEAN… to continue to downgrade Myanmar’s representation in the ASEAN ministerial meeting and we also look forward to finding ways to increase pressure on the regime to regime to end its violence and return to a path of democracy,” Mr Kritenbrink said on a phone call to preview the trip.
Washington last month imposed sanctions on two Myanmar banks used by the junta to exchange foreign currency in an effort to curb the military’s ability to import weapons and equipment for its crackdown on anti-coup forces.
Mr Kritenbrink said last week that countries in the region should make progress in mutually resolving maritime disputes to strengthen their collective voice in disputes with China in the South China Sea.
Mr Kritenbrink said on Friday that the US would work with ASEAN members in Jakarta to push back against what he said was “an upward trend of futile, coercive and irresponsible Chinese actions”.
“It’s not about getting countries to agree with the US vision. It is a matter of working with our partners to advance our shared vision and vision for the region, and to curb behavior that goes against that vision,” he said. REUTERS
