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Opinion | As South China Sea tensions rise, China’s participation in Asean naval exercise raises hope of calmer waters
- Yang Zi and Li Mingjiang say the joint maritime exercise highlights the warming of China-Asean relations as the Belt and Road Initiative makes inroads
- However, it does not imply that Asean is leaning towards China and away from the US, with a range of disagreements yet to be resolved
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It was not so long ago that tensions between some Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries and China were high, largely because of South China Sea disputes. For years, there were dangerous conflicts between China and some Asean claimants to parts of the South China Sea that resulted in the deterioration of relations between China and these neighbouring countries.
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In the past year or so, however, the situation has changed. In a world of rising instability and unpredictability, the demand for regional cooperation and order is now on the rise, especially in Southeast Asia, a region that has prospered peacefully after decades as a cold war battleground.
Relations between China and Asean nations have been improving in the recent past, particularly after China became a keen investor, pouring in billions of dollars into the region’s infrastructure and connectivity projects as part of the Belt and Road Initiative that Beijing launched in late 2013.
China understands that rising tensions in the South China Sea will only undermine the initiative in Southeast Asia, and strained relations with Asean countries will contribute to the growth of other major powers’ strategic influence in the region. Most Asean states are certainly not interested in pursuing a confrontational approach towards China and are willing to give Beijing’s call for stability and improvement of bilateral ties a try.
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Cordial statements between political leaders have also been echoed among military officers. The recently concluded Asean Defence Ministers Plus Meeting was seen as a success, and the Asean-China Maritime Exercise, in particular, marked a watershed in Asean-China military-to-military relations and bilateral security ties. For the first time, navies from Asean nations and China took part in a joint exercise with the intent of increasing mutual understanding and decreasing the chance of miscalculation.
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