China To Host Foreign Ministers From 4 Southeast Asian Nations

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will host his counterparts from four maritime Southeast Asian nations this week, stepping up Beijing’s attempts to engage the region in the wake of diplomatic efforts by the United States and its partners.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a press conference in Beijing yesterday that the foreign ministers of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines had been invited to visit China from March 31 to April 2. She described the meetings as a sign of “the profound friendship and growing affinity” between China and its neighbors in Southeast Asia.

A separate statement from Singapore’s Foreign Ministry announcing the meeting suggests that it will take place in the Chinese province of Fujian, stating that the city-state’s top diplomat Vivian Balakrishnan was scheduled to visit on March 30-31. There was no indication whether the meetings will be bilateral, or whether it will take the form of a mini-summit, although usual Chinese practice (and the differential timing of Balakrishnan’s visit) would seem to suggest the former.

The invitation to the four maritime Southeast Asian nations comes amid a fresh spate of tensions in the South China Sea. Last week, China dispatched around 200 ships to Union Banks in the Spratly Islands. Most of the flotilla is moored around the Whitsun Reef, a low-tide elevation that the Philippines claims falls within the country’s 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone, over which the Philippines “enjoys the exclusive right to exploit or conserve any resources” under international law.

While China claims that the vessels are merely fishing boats that are sheltering from adverse weather conditions, the ships include at least seven vessels belonging to the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia. Today, the Philippines Inquirer reported that the Chinese fleet in the area instructed a Philippine military aircraft conducting an aerial patrol to “leave immediately” as it flew over Whitsun Reef.