'New era’ in Southeast Asia ties with US, says Biden

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday a first summit in Washington D.C. with ASEAN leaders marked the launch of a "new era" in the relationship between the U.S. and 10 Southeast Asian countries.

"A great deal of history of our world in the next 50 years is going to be written in the ASEAN countries," he said on the second day of the two-day ASEAN-U.S. Summit. “We’re launching a new era, a new era in U.S.-ASEAN relations."

The summit marks the first time ASEAN leaders have been invited to the White House in 45 years. The White House issued a joint vision statement for the event.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is comprised of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Within the summit framework, the ASEAN leaders, including Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, had a meeting with the U.S. business community on the first day. It focused on a range of issues like energy, sustainability and energy transition in the region; investment in low-carbon energy and infrastructure; digitalization, digital commerce and economy.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai attended the meeting, which also saw the presence of executives of leading American corporations like Google, Qualcomm, Abbott, AES, Chevron, General Electric, and Boeing.

Katherine Tai stated that the U.S. will work with ASEAN to develop an inclusive and sustainable economy. Meanwhile, business leaders shared a view that ASEAN is a strategic market for digital transformation, expressing their hope for new policies to make changes in digitization.

The U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (US-ABC), in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, hosted the meeting.

"We witnessed a historic moment of cooperation in the U.S.-ASEAN relationship," said US-ABC President and CEO Ambassador Ted Osius.

"There is a phenomenal set of opportunities to expand the relationship between the United States and Southeast Asia and today's discussion on the digital economy, climate change, and more was a key steppingstone for both sides," he said in a release.

The Council has nine offices around the globe, in Washington D.C., New York, Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Singapore, and Yangon.

At the summit, PM Pham Minh Chinh affirmed ASEAN's principled stance on the South China Sea, known as the East Sea in Vietnam, that is to peacefully resolve all disputes and differences on the basis of international laws, including UNCLOS.

"The 45-year journey of ASEAN-US cooperation has seen great strides, making important contributions to promoting dialogue, building trust, and maintaining peace, security, stability and development in the region," he stated.

Chinh emphasized that all the parties need to continue promoting sincere dialogue on the basis of trust and responsibility, join hands to control disagreements, and respect the law.

Addressing a meeting on climate change response, clean energy transition and sustainable infrastructure between ASEAN leaders and U.S. ministers, he raised cooperation issues within the framework of the Mekong-U.S. Partnership, saying this contributes to equitable and sustainable development.

The Prime Minister added that he highly appreciated the efforts of countries to cooperate in responding to climate change through economic restructuring, application of scientific and technical advances, development of renewable energy, promotion of clean energy transformation, and building high-quality infrastructure towards green and sustainable development.