* 27 countries to join ASEAN Regional Forum
* China says U.S. intervening, driving militarisation
* Military activities on rise in S China Sea
* Indonesia minister: ASEAN won't take sides
* Vietnam PM: 'growing volatilities' in region
(Add U.S. statement on Pompeo participation in meeting)
By James Pearson and Khanh Vu
HANOI, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian foreign ministers
kicked off a series of regional summits on Wednesday expected to
seek collaboration to fight global threats and to try to
de-escalate a tit-for-tat U.S.-China rivalry as the world's two
biggest economies vie for influence.
Russia, Japan, Australia, South Korea and India were among
other countries remotely joining an event hosted by Vietnam that
will include a 27-nation security forum, as concern grows about
rhetoric and accidental conflict, and about other countries
being caught up in the fray.
"The regional geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape,
including the South China Sea, are witnessing growing
volatilities that are detrimental to peace and stability,"
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in opening the
summit.
Vietnam's foreign minister, Pham Binh Minh, said the role of
international law and multilateral institutions was being
"greatly challenged".
The U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo joined several countries from the 10-nation Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and "many other partners" in
raising concerns about China's "aggressive actions" in the South
China Sea.
Pompeo and several countries voiced concern about China's
imposition of a new national security law on Hong Kong, the
arrests of pro-democracy students, postponement of the
territory's elections and disqualification of pro-democracy
electoral candidates, department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus
said.
Pompeo and other ministers also called for a cessation of
violence and a negotiated solution to escalating violence in
Myanmar's Rakhine State and for North Korea to abandon its
weapons of mass destruction, she said.
China's top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, accused the
United States of intervening directly in disputes among
claimants in the South China Sea and of being the biggest driver
of its militarisation. "Peace and stability is China's greatest strategic interest
in the South China Sea," he told the meeting, according to
China's foreign ministry's website.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in an interview
with Reuters cautioned the United States and China against
entangling Southeast Asian nations in their geopolitical battle.
"We don't want to get trapped by this rivalry," she said on
Tuesday, describing militarisation of the waterway as
"worrying".
U.S.-CHINA TENSIONS
President Donald Trump has trumpeted his tough approach to
China in the run-up to his November re-election bid and his
administration has spoken out strongly against Beijing over
issues from ranging from trade to espionage and China's maritime
conduct.
Washington has accused Beijing of bullying its neighbours by
sending ships close to their offshore energy operations, and of
opportunism in holding military exercises and testing new
defence hardware in disputed locations, while rival claimants
battle coronavirus outbreaks. China says its actions were
lawful. Since mid-August, the United States has repeatedly riled
China by sending warships to the South China Sea and the
sensitive Taiwan Strait and flew a reconnaissance plane over
Chinese live-fire drills. It blacklisted 24 Chinese entities over their involvement in
building and militarising artificial islands. "There's no desire to take sides - or to be seen to be doing
so," said Collin Koh, a security expert at Singapore's S.
Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
ASEAN would instead discuss with China the advancement of a
code of maritime conduct and access to a COVID-19 vaccine, and
talk to the United States about increasing investment from
corporate America.
ASEAN would try to "de-focus on the intensifying rivalry",
he said.
Ortagus said Pompeo praised ASEAN unity and transparency in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic and underscored the U.S.
commitment to partnering with ASEAN countries in economic
recovery efforts.