China to ASEAN: Don’t pick sides

China’s new foreign minister has warned Southeast Asian nations against engaging in ‘group politics and bloc confrontation’.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. Picture: AFP

China’s new foreign minister has warned Southeast Asian nations against engaging in “group politics and bloc confrontation”, just hours after Defence Minister Richard Marles announced Australia and The Philippines were exploring possible joint military patrols in the South China sea.

Qin Gang delivered the message in a joint press conference with Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi – his first visit to the region as Beijing’s new foreign envoy – where he also counselled Jakarta to “make independent judgments and choices”.

“I told madam foreign minister that a new cold war or major country rivalry should not take place in our region, the Asia ­Pacific,” Mr Qin said during the online conference in the Indo­nesian capital in which neither minister took questions.

“Regional countries should not be forced to pick sides.

“We hope and trust that Indonesia and other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries will bear in mind peace and stability and prosperity of the region and make independent judgment and choices.”

Mr Qin said while China ­supported the regional bloc’s strategic independence and inclusive regional architecture, “we stand against group politics and bloc confrontation”.

Beijing is betraying rising concern over a series of strengthened defence pacts between its Southeast Asian neighbours and Quad member states the US, Australia and Japan in the wake of last August’s Taiwan Strait crisis in which the Chinese military encircled Taiwan and conducted three days of live fire drills.

The drills, retaliation for former US Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the Taipei capital, raised fresh alarm among ASEAN nations over a possibility of being caught in the middle of a Great Power conflict and underscored the need to shore up their security.

In Manila, Mr Marles hailed Australia and The Philippines as “strategically aligned” countries – both allies of the US who count China as their largest trading partner – with a mutual determination to “deepen the opportunities where Filipino servicemen and women can work alongside Australian servicemen and women”.

“To that end, we are building upon the training occurring right now and looking at ways in which we can pursue joint pat­rols together in the South China Sea, looking at ways in which we can do more exercises together,” Mr Marles told a joint news conference with Philippine defence secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.

Australia would send one of the largest military contingents to The Philippines’ multilateral Balikatan exercises and looked forward to The Philippines participating for the first time in the Australia-hosted Talisman Sabre in August, he said.

Philippines President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos’ readiness to strengthen ties with Western partners and allies since his election in May is in sharp contrast to predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who sought to decrease Manila’s reliance on Washington and build ties with Beijing.

Mr Marles’s announcement on joint patrols in the disputed South China Sea comes after a Philippines maritime official revealed similar discussions with the US over joint coastguard pat­rols of the resource-rich waters, which China claims as its own.