At the summit taking place in the Laotian capital, Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra proposed an “informal consultation” to find a way out of the conflict. But the positions are still very far apart. Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s prime minister who will assume the rotating presidency in 2025, called for political cohesion to give “a clear message to the world overwhelmed by wars” and become “the world’s fourth largest economy by 2030.”
Vientiane (/Agencies) – The leaders of Southeast Asian countries met today in Vientiane for the annual APEC summit, which will continue until Friday, with two fundamental topics: the civil war in Myanmar and territorial tensions in the South China Sea.
ASEAN is a political and economic association of 10 Southeast Asian states (Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and Laos) that together represent a population of more than 600 million inhabitants. East Timor currently has observer status in the group, allowing it to participate in all ASEAN meetings pending full membership.
The summit is intertwined with a series of separate meetings with global powers, attended by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Prime Minister Indian Minister Narendra Modi.
The thorniest issue remains the war in Myanmar, where ASEAN has so far proven unable to help it advance the five-point peace plan that had been approved in 2021. For the first time since the coup, Burmese generals They agreed to send a non-political representative, the condition imposed by the other countries to admit Naypyidaw to the summit. Therefore, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Aung Kyaw Moe, is present in Vientiane.
Thailand – represented by new Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra – has called for greater commitment to this crisis, and presented her country’s candidacy to host an “informal consultation” of the 10 member countries in December to find a way out of the conflict. . “ASEAN – he said – should send a unified message to all parties in Myanmar: there is no military solution. It is time to start talking.” But the central problem of the elections remains pending, which the Junta wants to hold next year and for which it is carrying out a census, despite the fact that it does not have control over large areas of the country. The Opposition parties, for their part, consider the vote a farce because their leaders remain in jail.
At the summit, some members expressed concern about China’s activities in the South China Sea and urged China to respect the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea “It is a general principle of adherence to the rule of law.” “declared Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.. “Perhaps we will have the opportunity to go into more detail in the coming days.”
When opening the summit debates, Sonexay Siphandone – Prime Minister of Laos and current president of the organization – had pointed out the numerous challenges posed by today’s world: from armed conflicts to economic-financial difficulties, including climate change and natural disasters, and transnational crimes. Faced with this scenario – he stated – the bloc of Southeast Asian countries must persevere in the right to autonomy, strengthen cooperation and take advantage of all opportunities.
“ASEAN must be inflexible and resolute in sending a clear message to the world to unite and contribute to de-escalating conflicts,” echoed Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who will assume the presidency of the organization. next year -. As global tensions continue to rise and polarization appears to prevail over integration, cracks and divisions within ASEAN risk being exploited to the detriment of centrality and cohesion between our countries.”
Anwar also called for strengthening regional cooperation, restructuring economies and ensuring regional connections to the global economy. “If we continue this path with determination and commitment, ASEAN can achieve economic resilience and become the world’s fourth largest economy by 2030.”
(with the collaboration of Joseph Masilamany)
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