China’s Missteps in Southeast Asia
Dec. 17 (Jamestown/by Ian Storey): At the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting in Hanoi in July, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi―fuming at the temerity of 12 countries who had raised the contentious South China Sea dispute―stared at his Singaporean counterpart and thundered “China is a big country and other countries are small countries and that is just a fact.”
Yang’s less than subtle message was emblematic of China’s diplomatic missteps in Southeast Asia over the past year, which have sent ripples of concern across the region, undermined Beijing’s “peaceful development” thesis and led to a renewed appreciation of America’s diplomatic role and military presence in Asia.
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