Journal De Bruxelles - Top China, US diplomats begin meeting in Laos

The pair will meet for about an hour on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting, US officials said, with China's foreign ministry saying they would "exchange views on issues of common concern".

Blinken's trip to Asia has been touted as promoting a "free and open" Asia-Pacific region -- a thinly veiled criticism of China's regional economic, strategic and territorial ambitions.

Shortly before the meeting he hit out at Beijing's "escalatory and unlawful actions" in the South China Sea, where China and the Philippines are locked in a territorial dispute that has seen clashes at a flashpoint reef.

Blinken arrived in Laos two days after the foreign ministers of China and Russia met with the 10-nation ASEAN bloc -- and each other on the sidelines of the meeting.

On Thursday, Wang met Russia foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Vientiane and discussed "building a new security architecture for Eurasia", according to Moscow's foreign ministry.

The pair also agreed to jointly "counter any attempts by extra-regional forces to interfere in Southeast Asian affairs", it said.

China has a strong political and economic partnership with Russia, with NATO members labelling Beijing as a "key facilitator" of Moscow's involvement in the war in Ukraine.

- Stormy seas -

The temperature between Manila and Beijing remains high, despite the deal last week on resupplying Filipino troops stationed on a disputed reef.

Beijing claims the waterway -- through which trillions of dollars of trade passes annually -- almost in its entirety despite an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

The clashes have fuelled fears of a conflict that could drag in the United States due to its mutual defence treaty with Manila.

On Saturday Manila said it had successfully resupplied troops on the Second Thomas Shoal -- the focus of violent clashes between Chinese and Philippines vessels in recent months.

The mission was carried out under a deal agreed with Beijing last week.

"We are pleased to take note of the successful resupply today," Blinken said.

"We applaud that and hope and expect to see that it continues going forward."

"We hope China implements the agreement," Philippine foreign secretary Enrique Manalo told reporters in Vientiane late on Friday.

"I think that would be an important step forward in diffusing tensions and hopefully lead to other areas of cooperation on the South China Sea."

A Filipino sailor lost a thumb in the latest June 17 confrontation when Chinese coast guard members wielding knives, sticks and an axe foiled a Philippine Navy attempt to resupply its troops.

- 'No right' -

China lashed out earlier this year after Blinken said that Washington was ready to defend the Philippines if its forces, ships or aircraft came under attack in the South China Sea.

Beijing has insisted that the United States has "no right" to interfere in the South China Sea.

The two countries also remain at loggerheads over trade, human rights and the status of the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China claims sovereignty over.

Blinken is scheduled to travel to Hanoi later Saturday to extend US condolences to Vietnamese officials after the passing of communist leader Nguyen Phu Trong.

ASEAN ministers issued a joint communique at the end of their three-day meeting.

One diplomatic source said the statement had been held up by lack of consensus over the wording of paragraphs on the Myanmar conflict and disputes in the South China Sea.

Myanmar's junta has been banned from high-level ASEAN summits over its 2021 coup and crackdown on dissent but has sent two bureaucrats to represent it at the Laos talks.

D.Mertens--JdB