The foreign ministers of China and Russia on Friday walked out when it was their Japanese counterpart’s turn to speak at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related meeting in Phnom Penh, diplomatic sources said.
China’s Wang Yi and Russia’s Sergey Lavrov left their seats apparently in protest at Japan’s criticism of Beijing’s military exercises that began in response to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and its condemnation of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Wang, Lavrov and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi were participating in the foreign ministerial session of the 18-member East Asia Summit.
Hayashi and Wang locked horns Thursday over Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, with Wang slamming her trip and Hayashi expressing deep concern over China’s retaliatory step of holding military drills near the self-ruled, democratic island.
In a meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations along with those of Japan, China and South Korea in Phnom Penh, Hayashi expressed “grave concern” over the ongoing large-scale drills in the Taiwan Strait, his ministry said.
The Chinese military’s live-fire drills — which began Thursday and kicked off four days of exercises in areas encircling Taiwan — are among the fallout from the historic visit by Pelosi. She was the highest ranking U.S. official to visit the island in 25 years.
Hayashi was also quoted by the ministry as saying that Japan expects issues related to the island to be “resolved peacefully,” and that “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is important and imperative” for international security and prosperity.
At the nearly two-hour meeting, Wang criticized Pelosi’s trip as a move that could lead to “the point of no return,” according to an ASEAN diplomatic source.
The meeting between the 10 members of ASEAN and the three countries — the first such in-person meeting since 2019 — comes amid rising U.S.-China tensions over Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan through Wednesday, which she persevered with despite China’s warnings against it.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
During her trip, Pelosi also held talks with President Tsai Ing-wen, during which she said the United States has an “ironclad” determination to preserve democracy in Taiwan.
The ministers also discussed Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which began in late February. Hayashi reiterated his strong condemnation of Moscow as “shaking the foundation of the rules-based international order,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The ASEAN member nations maintain a range of stances over the war in Ukraine, with Singapore the only nation to join U.S.-led economic sanctions on Russia and most others refrained from condemning Moscow by name.
The Group of Seven countries including Japan, along with like-minded nations such as South Korea, continue to impose sanctions, including freezing the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and its central bank, as well as excluding some major Russian lenders from the key SWIFT international payments network.
Meanwhile, China has not joined the punitive steps to isolate Russia. Instead, Beijing has apparently been increasing joint military activities with Moscow, especially in and above waters around Japan.
North Korea’s missile and nuclear threat, as well as the ongoing crisis in junta-controlled Myanmar since the February 2021 coup, were also on the agenda.
Hayashi said during the ASEAN-plus-three meeting that U.N. resolutions aimed at barring North Korea from developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons must be implemented, according to the ministry.
Pyongyang has repeatedly conducted ballistic missile tests this year, raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, while speculation is also mounting that the nation may soon carry out what would be its seventh nuclear test and the first since 2017.
In 2020 and 2021, ASEAN — which comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — held its foreign ministerial meetings virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.