US meetings with Asean will include China concerns, but no call to pick sides

The United States will raise concerns about China’s human rights record and “coercion” in the South China Sea during ministerial meetings with Southeast Asian countries this week, yet will not force countries in the region to pick sides in the ongoing US-China spat, a senior US official said on Monday.

The Joe Biden administration’s offensive against Beijing continues, even as it hopes to engage China and other countries in Southeast and East Asia in efforts to combat climate change and solve regional security issues like unrest in Afghanistan and the post-coup crisis in Myanmar.

Addressing recent news that Myanmar’s military government intends to hold elections in two years, the senior US official said during a background briefing it was “clear that the Burmese junta is just stalling for time and wants to keep prolonging the calendar to its own advantage”.

“So, all the more reason why Asean has to engage on this,” said the official, referring to the 10-country alliance of which Myanmar is a member.