Antony Blinken to discuss South China Sea and Ukraine at Asean summit

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will continue to raise Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea and the US concern over its alleged support for Russia’s war in Ukraine when he attends the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos this week.

Blinken, who departs for Vientiane on Tuesday, is expected to be there until Friday.

Discussing Blinken’s agenda with reporters on Tuesday, Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said that “a number of PRC [People’s Republic of China]-related issues are likely to come up in the context of the Asean meetings, including the situation in the South China Sea”.

He contended that China was “continuing to take a number of escalatory and irresponsible steps designed to coerce and pressure many of the South China Sea claimants”.

Along with China, the Asean member states of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei assert overlapping claims to territory in the South China Sea. In recent months, the region has seen escalating clashes between the Chinese coastguard and Philippine vessels.

Kritenbrink had no meetings to announce during Blinken’s visit but said that “given how central the South China Sea is to regional and global peace and stability” it would be a key issue should “any engagements” with Chinese officials occur.