ASEAN defence ministers meet in Cebu – China sends only its military attaché
China's Defence Minister Dong Jun is absent from the meeting of Southeast Asian defence ministers with the US, Japan, South Korea, India and Australia. Beijing is represented by an embassy attaché.
Archive image · Photo: Presidential Communications Office / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
The 20th meeting of defence ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened on Wednesday on the Philippine island of Cebu. Host Gilberto Teodoro, the Philippine defence secretary, said ASEAN must not let internal differences divide it, according to The Rio Times. Disputes, including in the South China Sea, should be settled peacefully and on a legal basis, he said. An expanded session with dialogue partners, including the US, Japan, South Korea, India and Australia, follows on Thursday.
China is represented at a lower level: instead of Defence Minister Dong Jun, only the Chinese embassy's defence attaché is attending, the People's Liberation Army announced on Tuesday. Regional tensions have been rising: only on Monday Manila rejected reports that it was cooperating with Taiwan on protecting undersea cables and reaffirmed its commitment to the One China policy.