China Hosts Southeast Asian Ministers as it Competes With US for Influence
Voice of America
BEIJING - China is hosting foreign ministers from 10 Southeast Asian nations this week amid heightened competition between Beijing and Washington for influence in the region.
Chinese state media said the meeting Tuesday in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing will cover issues from restoring tourism and other economic exchanges battered by COVID-19, to more coordinated efforts in fighting the pandemic and the feasibility of creating a vaccine passport to allow freer travel among them. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also expected to meet separately with each of his counterparts on the sidelines of the conference. Beijing has been building influence with the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, despite frictions with some of them over rival territorial claims in South China Sea.FILE - An Iranian woman holds a poster of the late President Ebrahim Raisi during a mourning ceremony for him at Vali-e-Asr square in downtown Tehran, Iran on May 20, 2024. FILE - The helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi takes off at the Iranian border with Azerbaijan after President Raisi and his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev inaugurated dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, Iran, on May 19, 2024.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, left, leader of the Conservative Party, speaks to supporters during his visit to Melksham in southwest England, June 7, 2024. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, left, attends the UK national commemorative event for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, held at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, June 6, 2024.
FILE - Residents displaced from a surge of violent attacks squat on blankets and in hastily made tents in the village of Masteri in west Darfur, Sudan, on July 30, 2020. FILE - A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, April 25, 2023. FILE - Volunteers distribute food to residents and displaced people in Omdurman, Sudan, March 8, 2024.
A Swiss flag is pictured in front of the Burgenstock Resort where the Summit on Peace in Ukraine will take place June 15 and 16, in Lucerne, Switzerland, May 28, 2024. FILE - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks at a press conference in Beijing, May 30, 2024. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listens to a question during a press conference after the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, June 2, 2024.