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South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (bottom right screen) partakes in the ASEAN Plus Three foreign ministers’ meeting via teleconference on Sept. 9. (EPA/Yonhap News)

Amid their mounting conflict, the US and China engaged in another tense battle of nerves on the ASEAN diplomatic stage following their major clash in July and August.

Speaking at an East Asia Summit (EAS) foreign ministers’ meeting via teleconference on Sept. 9, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “joined several ASEAN countries and many other partners in raising concerns over the PRC [People’s Republic of China]’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea,” the US State Department reported that day.

Pompeo was also quoted as reiterating that China’s claims regarding the South China Sea are considered “unlawful” according to a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

The US and China facing off over the South China Sea issue has become an annual ritual at ASEAN-related foreign minister conferences. The reason it is drawing particular notice this year is that this is the first time the two sides have both attended a meeting following the US’ blunt remarks on the Hong Kong situation, in which it described Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “true believer in a bankrupt, totalitarian ideology,” referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

Pompeo was also critical of Beijing in the presence of its own representative at the meeting, singling out the Hong Kong security law, the arrests of students demanding democratization, the postponement of legislative assembly elections, and the disqualification of pro-democracy candidates.

According to an announcement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi responded at the meeting by declaring that the EAS was “not the setting for interfering in other countries’ internal affairs” and “should not be a stage for attacking other countries’ political systems.” He also accused the US of “pushing ahead with militarization of the South China Sea” to suit its own political needs and “becoming the biggest threat to peace in the South China Sea as it interferences and stirs up conflict.”

At a China-ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting the day before, Wang was reported by the Chinese Foreign Ministry as saying the US had “fully repudiated its China policies from the past several decades” and was “committing all its energies to exaggeratedly portraying China as its ‘chief enemy.’”

“China-US relations continue to decline due to these constant efforts to pressure China and block its development,” he was also quoted as saying. While the meeting took place remotely, those who observed it described it as “a real war of words with no holding back on either side.”

According to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha reiterated her previous stance stressing the “importance of ensuring freedom of passage in the waters and skies [of the South China Sea] and resolving conflicts peacefully through dialogue.” She also reportedly explained again at the meeting about Seoul’s efforts to achieve progress with the Korean Peninsula peace process and called for the support of the international community. The EAS foreign ministers’ meeting was attended by representatives of 18 countries: the 10 ASEAN members, South Korea, China, Japan, the US, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and India.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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