America went to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers conference to sling more insults at Xi Jinping while claiming impunity for USA misconduct in shunning China’s sovereignty over the Taiwan island by sending a USA Congressional delegation to Taipei despite Beijing’s protests.
According to attendees who heard Antony Bklinken’s monologues, “America maintains that it has the right to supply Taiwan with a plethora of modern-day offensive weapons with which Taiwan could attack the mainland of China or assist America in doing so. In the alternative, American foreign policy asserts that China may attack Taiwan and assert its claim over the island and therefore America needs to make certain Taiwan can defend itself and maintain its status as a friend of America (which it otherwise would not be if Taiwan’s relationship became closer to mainland China?) .”
The 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) was held on 3-5 August 2022 in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia. The Meeting was chaired by Cambodia under the theme “ASEAN A.C.T.: Addressing Challenges Together.”
“We reaffirmed ASEAN ‘s commitment to address our common challenges and to sustain the momentum of ASEAN ’s community-building efforts with a strong sense of togetherness,” an ASEAN statement sets out. (A Joint Communique of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers can be found here.)
“We also discussed the need to further strengthen engagement and cooperation with ‘Dialogue Partners’ and external partners, including through existing ASEAN -led mechanisms, and the importance of ASEAN Centrality, credibility and relevance in maintaining peace, stability, and prosperity in our regional and global endeavours amidst uncertainty and rapid changes in Southeast Asia and beyond.”
Photo courtesy ASEAN.
As the conference wound down, Nancy Pelosi defiantly said, and was heard on monitors around the conference, that, “nobody can tell the American government where it is allowed to travel”.
“Nancy Pelosi and Antony Blinken sound like they on behalf of America are claiming ownership of Taiwan,” quipped Sara Qin who had attended several of the press conferences today in Cambodia.
America, China bring tension to ASEAN.
“Unmistakable is the air of tension over the military chest beating and general feuding between America and China over the unwelcome visitation of a USA congressional delegation which attended Taipei for a pro-democracy lecture to China, insulting Xi Jinping’s government,” said Sara Qin.
“China has cancelled all talks between American and Chinese groups, and sanctioned several officials including Nancy Pelosi,” said Ms. Qin.
“Antony Blinken is truly under the misconception that he is the world’s secretary of state using every opportunity to tell governments how their countries should be run. Talking down his nose on Friday to the foreign ministers of ASEAN‘s meeting of Southeast Asian he delivered the most cringe worthy embarrassing monologue that ever came out of an American’s loud mouth,” reports Sara Qin, who traveled to Phnom Penh with Sonya Yoshiki and several other civil society humanitarian colleagues from the Asian Pacific RINJ Foundation women’s chapters.
“Antony Blinken does not give a damn about our three co-workers murdered in Myanmar, he only cares about arrogantly pretending to be a know-it-all demagogue-in-his-own-mind. In the restroom women were laughing and ridiculing his better-than-you speeches,”Ms. Qin added.
On 1 February 2021, hours before the newly and democratically elected Union Assembly was to convene, Myanmar’s military seized power. Its forces detained President Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and senior members of the government and of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Announcing a state of emergency, state media declared that executive, legislative, and judiciary powers were in the hands of Defence Services Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The formation of the State Administration Council (SAC) followed the next day. This junta, chaired by Min Aung Hlaing, became the country’s ruling body. Photo Credit: Military Government of Myanmar.
As US Secretary of State to US President Joe Biden, Antony Blinken began his time as the US Foreign Minister with a stark, bold, rude and crude attack on China. Since then he has overseen America’s proxy war with Russia in Ukraine which according to some estimates has killed over 100,000 Russians in Donbass. Between Russia and America and between China and America, Blinken has cultivated the worst possible relationships bordering on the breakout of World War III. But unlike General Min Aung Hlaing, Blinken was invited to the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting as an observer guest. Photo credit: US State department.
The RINJ women‘s rights group has a special interest in the Myanmar situation because three of its active members working as humanitarians in Myanmar were killed in Myanmar under orders of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing who had formed an 11-member junta called the State Administration Council (SAC), and ruled Myanmar thereafter with a brutal, bloody manner. He claims to be the Prime Minister of Myanmar. The three humanitarian workers were hunted down and killed after the government demanded that RINJ workers leave the country. The three who were killed were among three dozen local workers.
“TheASEAN event, to which China, Russia, the European Union and the USA were all invited as guests, (Myanmar was not invited unless it could send a non-political, non-military person but a real diplomat, even though it is technically a member.), was able to focus on the Myanmar crisis and a serious condemnation of Myanmar’s failure to uphold its undertakings to address the violence and the breach of human rights by the military junta of Min Aung Hlaing,” noted Ms. Qin.
“Instead, Myanmar has killed more human rights advocates,” said Ms. Qin with a grimace.
A Joint Communique of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers can be found here. Photo credit: ASEAN
Background reading on the Myanmar Crisis
China and Russia held a bilateral sidebar meeting to ASEAN of the two nation’s Foreign Ministry officials.
China explained to Russia that “China’s response has to be strong because there are 1.4 billion people who expect their government and not to be bullied any longer by America.”
“This is true,” said Ms. Qin. “In recent years Chinese people have watched as a princess was kidnapped in 2018 by America and Canada and also made preposterous claims against Chinese cell phones which are believed by the Chinese to be the best in the world and they should know because it is Chinese technologists in every country who are behind the manufacture of all smartphones in the world,” she quipped.