JAKARTA, July 12(ABC): Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Monday that countries should avoid being used as “chess pieces” by global powers in a region that he said was at risk of being reshaped by geopolitical factors.
Addressing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) secretariat in a speech in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, Wang said many countries in the region were under pressure to take sides.
“We should insulate this region from geopolitical calculations…from being used as chess pieces from major power rivalry and from coercion,” said Wang, who was speaking through a translator.
“The future of our region should be in our own hands,” he said.
Southeast Asia has long been an area of friction between powers given its strategic importance, with countries in the region now wary of being caught in the middle of US-China rivalry.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its territory based on what it says are historical maps, putting it at odds with some ASEAN countries which say the claims are inconsistent with international law.
