BEIJING: China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to reject outside interference in the South China Sea, saying it is not a "safari Park" for governments outside the region, according to Chinese state media.
Wang made the comments at a symposium held online to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea, the original official document urging a settlement of the SCS dispute at the regional level.
Wang suggested that governments from states outside the region should be welcomed only if they intended to promote "peace and cooperation", claiming that "external powers" should maintain their "hegemony". for purposefully inciting conflict in the region. His remarks come ahead of a crucial meeting this week between Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Chinese President Xi Jinping. As the administrative center and most important economic power of the ASEAN grouping, Indonesia.
Beijing is reportedly making "illegal claims" in the South China Sea and East China Sea, where Beijing is embroiled in maritime disputes with several of its neighbors, including Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, according to the US and its Asia-Pacific allies Including Japan and Australia.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a keynote speech at Singapore's Shangri-La Dialogue last month there was an "alarming increase in the number of unsafe air barriers and collisions at sea" by People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and ships.
Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is currently in the Asia-Pacific region, echoed Austin's claims about an increase in encounters in the region. Milley accused Beijing of taking more "aggressive" actions not only in the South and East China Seas, but throughout the Asia-Pacific region, during a stopover in Indonesia's capital Jakarta.
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