The Sunnylands retreat centre in Rancho Mirage, California: a place where the White House has staged other high-profile meetings outside Washington. Photo: Sunnylands
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https://scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/1908875/us-says-asean-summit-obama-plans-host-month-not-anti-china Asia
US says Asean summit Obama plans to host this month is 'not anti-China'
U.S. President Barack Obama, second from right, speaks to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, second from left, flanked by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, left, and Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah during the 10th East Asia Summit at the 27th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
A summit with Southeast Asian leaders that US President Barack Obama is hosting later this month is “not anti-China”, a State Department official said.
The meeting will bring leaders from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) at the Californian resort of Sunnylands on February 15-16.
It is the same venue where Obama and President Xi Jinping held an unusually informal summit in 2013. This time, however, China is not invited.
“This summit is not about China. It’s about the US and ASEAN,” US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Russel said.
“This is not about China, this is not anti-China.”
The US administration has focused on bolstering Asean as a counterpoint to Chinese regional power.
“This is the culmination of a seven-plus-year investment the United States has made first and foremost in the Asia pacific region, but also in Asean in particular,” Russel said.
“I think it demonstrates that the rebalance has reached cruising altitude,” he added, referring to the Obama administration’s focus on its “pivot” toward Asia since 2009.
Several Asean states are embroiled in an increasingly bitter spat with China over disputed territory in the South China Sea.
The US says it takes no position on ownership of the various reefs and islets under dispute, but insists freedom of navigation in the vital shipping lane must be maintained.
President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama take a casual stroll for the media at Sunnylands estate in June, 2013. Photo: Reuters
“This set of challenges in Southeast Asia, particularly the disputes over land features and maritime entitlement in South China Sea isn’t a zero-sum game, this is not a proxy war between China and the United States,” Russel said.
“This is a direct challenge to the question of whether the countries in the region and the claimants in the South China Sea, and particularly China... would be guided by the universal principles and the rule of law.”
He insisted that Asia was “not certainly a battleground for big powers’ competition.”