China warns against 'new Cold War' at Asean summit

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday it is important to avoid a "new Cold War" when dealing with conflicts between countries as world leaders gathered in Indonesia amid sharpening geopolitical rivalries across the Indo-Pacific region.

Speaking at an annual summit involving members of Asean and China, Japan and South Korea, Li said countries needed to "appropriately handle differences and disputes".

"At present, it is very important to oppose taking sides, bloc confrontation and a new Cold War," Li told the meeting.

Asean, which has warned of the danger of getting dragged into major powers' disputes, is also holding wider talks with with Li, US Vice-President Kamala Harris, and leaders of various partner countries including Japan, South Korea, Australia, and India.

Neither US President Joe Biden nor his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is attending the summit.

High on the agenda at the gatherings in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, is concern about China's increasingly assertive activity in the South China Sea, an important trade corridor in which several Asean members have claims that conflict with China's.

Asean this week discussed with China accelerating negotiations on a long-discussed code of conduct for the waterway, said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi of the Asean chair, Indonesia.

The issue also came up during an Asean-Japan summit where leaders "expressed the importance of keeping situations in the region conducive, especially in the Korean Peninsula and also the South China Sea", she said.

The US and its allies have echoed Asean's calls for freedom of navigation and overflight and to refrain from building a physical presence in disputed waters. China has built various facilities, including runways, on tiny outcrops in the sea.

"The vice-president will underscore the US' and Asean's shared interest in upholding the rules-based international order, including in the South China Sea, in the face of China's unlawful maritime claims and provocative actions," a White House official said on Tuesday.

Just before this week's gatherings, China released a map with a "10-dash line" showing what appeared to be an expansion of the area it considers its territory in the South China Sea.

Several Asean members rejected the map.