Beijing, on Tuesday, said it would provide further aid to Southeast Asian nations battling the COVID-19 pandemic. China seeks to boost influence with the region where chief geopolitical rival the US is also looking to strengthen ties.
The announcement comes as China readies to host 10 foreign ministers from Southeast Asian nations on Tuesday.
The meeting is expected to discuss issues from restoring tourism and other economic exchanges battered by COVID-19. Coordinated efforts to fight the pandemic and the possibility of creating a vaccine passport to allow freer travel between the nations.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also expected to meet with the foreign ministers separately.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his counterparts from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations that China had already delivered 100 million doses of vaccine to ASEAN nations along with other pandemic-fighting materials and technical help.
Currently, China’s relations with some Southeast Asian nations are strained. The Philippines has repeatedly complained that Chinese boats have been moored on Whitsun reef, the Philippines have claimed. Malaysia complained last week that 16 Chinese military aircraft invaded their airspace and called the incident a “serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety". The US expressed its support for the Malaysian Royal Air Force in the dispute after China said that only two planes were involved in the incident.
Yi said China would “urgently implement” the China-ASEAN Public Health Cooperation Initiative, continue to support the ASEAN Emergency Medical Materials Reserve and strengthen regional public health capacity-building. “China will work with ASEAN to overcome the outbreak as soon as possible,” Yi said.
Beijing has been building influence with ASEAN, despite frictions with some members of the bloc over competing for territorial claims in the South China Sea.
”Over the past three decades, China-ASEAN cooperation has grown in leaps and bounds, becoming the most successful and dynamic example of cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told AP.
In the meantime, China called the presence of the US navy in the South China sea the biggest threat to security in the region. Among other issues like violation of human rights in Xinjiang and Beijing’s lack of transparency over the origin of the coronavirus, relations between the two nations are also under strain over Taiwan. Beijing strongly objects to strengthened relations between the US and Taiwan and threatens to use military force to bring the self-governing island under its control.
The US, on Sunday, said that it would give Taiwan 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine after the island complained that China is hindering its efforts to secure vaccines.
--With PTI inputs
