New U.S. strategy towards ASEAN: caution, info-colonialism! (See commentary and notes)

The implementation of yet another U.S. initiative may allow it to interfere in the information policy of ASEAN and control the cyberspace of all of Southeast Asia.

New U.S. strategy towards ASEAN: caution, info-colonialism!

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This reminds me of the tech camps that were held in Ukraine before the Euromaidan. Anyone who has been following me for a while knows where that led to. Except, replace China with Russia.

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US seeks to ‘militarize’ Venezuela-Guyana disputed territory

The Geopolitics in Conflict Show

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister says that the parliament recently passed a referendum protecting the sovereign territory from US encroachment, adding that the US is again trying to interfere in the 200-year-old dispute of Essequibo.

US seeks to ‘militarize’ Venezuela-Guyana disputed territory

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President Maduro Accuses Guyana of Becoming an ExxonMobil Branch Amid Border Dispute (+Geneva Agreement)

Exxon Is The Biggest Winner In Guyana’s Epic Oil Boom

China and Venezuela to Establish ‘All-Weather Strategic Partnership’, Sign 31 Cooperation Agreements

The Venezuelan leader added that his country would continue to back China’s Belt and Road Initiative as well as the internationalization of the yuan, and is also willing to cooperate with Beijing in multilateral forums such as the BRICS group and the United Nations (UN).

A U.S.-ASEAN summit—a face or a farce

A U.S.-ASEAN summit—a face or a farce

It is clear that the U.S. officials had entertained the design to make the case that Russia’s invasion demonstrated the fragility of the international system while China’s tacit support for the invasion equally made a contrast with the United States’ principled stance. Yet, ASEAN members in general kept their heads down and avoided the issue rather than getting in the middle of a dispute between major powers. Rather than clearly denouncing the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the U.S. has acted globally, the joint vision statement called on an immediate cessation of hostilities and creating an enabling environment for peaceful resolution, and genuine respect for sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity in line with the U.N. Charter and international law. As a result, it is inevitable that the geostrategic [war] hawks in Washington were disappointed their unsuccessful persuasion of ten Asian countries to take side with the United States and its allies and partners. Because of this, the U.S. aid [bribe] package to the ASEAN was seen as a joke because it agreed to offer $150,000,000 for peace in a sharp contrast to the multiple-billions dollars for supporting a long war to weaken its geopolitical rival Russia, as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.

ASEAN is a regional economic community founded in 1967, yet it has been seen as the most dynamic economic powerhouse in the 21st century. With its hugely rich natural resources and technological innovation capacities, ASEAN has committed to preserve the Southeast Asian region as a Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone and free of all other weapons of mass destruction, as enshrined in the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ Treaty). Therefore, ASEAN vow to fully comply with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, taking into account the international community’s call for diplomacy as the instrument to maintain peace and security in the region.

Despite all these arguments, there is no reasons for the world to underestimate the close and comprehensive cooperation between the United States and ASEAN. This summit agenda were primarily focused on apolitical areas cooperation, such as clean energy, health security, the digital economy and the deteriorating situation in Myanmar. President Biden was aware of the wisdom of not making his ASEAN guests to be as frustrated with the situation as himself since there was deep divisions among ASEAN member states on the issues and challenges they have to face. Accordingly, it is fair to say that the U.S.-ASEAN summit recently held in Washington was good enough in public relations but insufficient in tackling the real global issues from poverty, climate change and illegal change of regime by “color revolution”.

Related:

ASEAN remains China’s No.1 trade partner from Jan to Apr, accounting for 14.6% of total trade

Biden to pressure ASEAN against Myanmar, Russia, China