PHNOM PENH – US President Joe Biden on Saturday said a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the United States and the Asean bloc will help to tackle “the biggest issues of our time”.

Mr Biden, in remarks at a summit of the United States and the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) in Cambodia, said the agreement would help build “an Indo-Pacific that’s free and open, stable and prosperous, and resilient and secure.” 

Mr Biden pledged cooperation on issues “from the South China Sea to Myanmar and to find innovative new solutions to shared challenges”.

In his brief speech, Mr Biden at one point referred to host Cambodia as Colombia.

Mr Biden landed on Saturday in Cambodia, where the agenda for his meeting with the leaders of the 10-nation Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) was to emphasise his vision for a free and open Asia-Pacific to counter China’s growing military and technological assertiveness.

The trip to South-east Asia is Mr Biden’s first since his presidency, and comes at a time when Washington is seeking to advance its role as a security partner among Asian nations that count on China as its biggest trading partner.

The White House has said it is hoping Mr Biden’s trip to the region will help bolster that status.

Mr Biden said there was a long agenda to get through, ranging from the pandemic recovery to tackling rising energy prices. 

Ahead of a bilateral meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Mr Biden said the US was committed to the return of democracy to Myanmar. He also thanked Mr Hun Sen for Cambodia’s “clear” condemnation of Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

“We have a long agenda today, I know, and I’m anxious to get to it,” Mr Biden told Mr Hun Sen. 

Mr Biden is the first US president to attend the Asean summit since 2017.

Mr Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are among the leaders set to hold separate talks with Asean on Saturday.

Mr Biden will focus on the Indo-Pacific region and talk about US commitment to a rules-based international order in the South China Sea in his discussions, senior administration officials said earlier this week.

Some analysts played down expectations of any dramatic developments from Mr Biden’s presence at the Asean meetings, but noted it provided more evidence of how the US was getting back to “normal diplomacy”.

“President Trump didn’t attend a single East Asian Summit during four years in office,” said Mr Greg Poling, head of the South-east Asia programme at the Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.

One outcome of the trip would be the elevation of the US-Asean partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership, he said.

“That doesn’t mean anything concrete, but symbolically it puts the US at the same level as China,” said Mr Poling.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will also attend some meetings, while Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is also in Cambodia after signing a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation with Asean, as Kyiv seeks to strengthen ties with the bloc.

Officials expect a number of summits in the region in the next seven days to be difficult, with discussions also expected to include the war in Ukraine, climate and regional tensions over the South China Sea.

Leaders of the Group of 20 are meeting in Bali next week, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will take place in Bangkok after that.

Asean leaders on Friday issued a “warning” to Myanmar to make measurable progress on a peace plan or risk being barred from the bloc’s meetings, as social and political chaos escalates in the country.

Here are other developments from the summit so far:

South Korea said it will contribute to building a prosperous Indo-Pacific by helping to enhance the region’s supply chains and bolster economic security,

President Yoon Suk Yeol said in his first summit meeting with Asean leaders.

“Cooperative, inclusive economic and technology ecosystems will be fostered to attain shared prosperity,” he told the gathering of leaders. “The Indo-Pacific is home to 65 per cent of the world’s population and over 60 per cent of its GDP.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, meanwhile, pushed for an early conclusion for putting together a code of conduct (COC) for the South China Sea that has dragged on for decades.

“I welcome the progress on textual negotiations on the COC this past year and hopefully an approved code of conduct in the very near future,” Mr Marcos said in remarks made during the Asean leaders’ meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and published by his government.

Mr Li said ties with South-east Asia “has gone from strength to strength”, with two-way trade reaching nearly US$800 billion (S$1.1 trillion) in the first 10 months, a 13.8 per cent increase on year.

“This is particularly notable given the impact of Covid-19 and complex international landscape,” he said.

He added that Asean and China have advanced security cooperation, and that Beijing supports “efforts to properly address matters” related to disputes in the South China Sea.

On Timor-Leste, regional leaders agreed in principle on Friday to admit Timor-Leste into Asean to become its 11th member. The tiny country of less than two million people has been chasing ascension for years .

As part of the agreement, Timor-Leste will be granted observer status and allowed participation in all Asean meetings including the summit plenaries. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG