Thursday’s East Asia summit in Indonesia will bring together US Vice President Kamala Harris, China’s premier, and Russia’s foreign minister, providing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for direct, high-level diplomacy between their warring nations.
The 18-nation gathering will put Washington and Beijing in touch a day after Premier Li Qiang issued a warning that major powers must manage their differences to prevent a “new Cold War” ahead of this week’s G20 conference, when President Xi Jinping will not be present.
The interactions between the representatives of the world’s two largest economies will be widely observed as they attempt to contain tensions that run the risk of escalating over topics like Taiwan, relations with Moscow, and a struggle for influence in the Pacific. “To keep differences under control, what is essential now is to oppose picking sides, to oppose bloc confrontation and to oppose a new Cold War,” Li told regional leaders on Tuesday.
Harris held her own talks with Southeast Asian leaders on “the importance of upholding international law in the South China Sea”, according to a statement from her office.
The summit on Thursday will mark the first time in over two months that senior US and Russian officials will be seated at the same table. At a ministerial conference in July, American and European officials criticized Moscow’s top diplomat for its on-going invasion of Ukraine.
They will be joined by leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A few months before to the meetings, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing for the first time in almost five years. While there, he met with Xi and former foreign minister Qin Gang.
