Wang Yi Achieves Major Agreements on His Southeast Asian Tour

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is traveling through Southeast Asia, in a follow-up to his successful meeting with the Indonesian Foreign Minister on Oct. 9 and the Philippines Foreign Minister on Oct. 11, both in southern China. From Oct. 11-15 he will visit most of the other ASEAN countries in his effort to shore up support for China in countering Mike Pompeo’s containment operations. His first stop was in Cambodia, where the two parties are now preparing to sign a free-trade agreement. Wang Yi also said that he would help Cambodia in its fight against COVID and will continue work on the Belt and Road projects there. He then proceeded to Malaysia where he had a meeting with the Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishamuddin Tan Hussein. The two agreed to expand their cooperation and will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation for the post-COVID era. Wang Yi said that the two countries should also work to prevent “external disruptions” (i.e., U.S. provocations), in the South China Sea dispute, which they agreed must be resolved among the claimants. Both Malaysia and China have maritime border disputes in that region. Wang Yi will proceed to Laos and Thailand, with a transit stop in Singapore.