Southeast Asian ministers urged Cambodia and Thailand yesterday to show restraint over a military standoff on their border and took steps to create a regional human rights body.
The 10 members of ASEAN were also tackling spiraling food and fuel prices at their annual meeting yesterday, as worsening inflation adds to political turbulence in the region.
The group, seeking to create an EU-style community encompassing half a billion people with a combined GDP of US$1.2 trillion, was set to again express profound disappointment with junta-ruled Myanmar, its most problematic member, a draft communique said.
With Thailand and Cambodia holding high-level talks yesterday aimed at resolving the dispute over a 900-year-old temple on their border, ASEAN ministers offered to help mediate.
“The situation has escalated dangerously, with troops from both sides faced off on disputed territory near the Preah Vihear temple,” Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said in a speech opening the meeting. “ASEAN could not stand idly by without damaging its credibility.”
The group’s diplomacy on the issue “reflects a growing sense that ASEAN is no longer just a ‘talk-shop,’ but a maturing community of nations prepared to act to advance its collective interests,” the prime minister said, adding that they had received assurances that Thailand and Cambodia would show “utmost restraint” to avoid armed conflict over a dangerous border dispute.
After a week of diplomatic sparring and a build-up of troops, expectations for a breakthrough were low, but both sides said they wanted to ease tensions.
The foreign ministers are discussing “the growing challenge posed by rising oil and food prices ... to our people’s welfare as well as our countries’ continued economic development,” the draft joint communique said.
The high-growth economies of Southeast Asia are worried global financial turmoil could lead to a replay of the “Asian contagion” financial crisis of 1997 to 1998, one official from the Philippines said.
ASEAN aims to sign a landmark charter at its annual summit in December that would create an EU-style community among its members, although three countries — Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines — have yet to ratify the document.
ASEAN’s inability to get Myanmar’s junta to reform has been a major stumbling block in its ambition to exert economic and diplomatic muscle.
But on Sunday, Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo saidcomments from foreign minister Nyan Win indicated generals could release detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in about half a year.
Asked whether the Myanmar’s minister’s comments meant she could be freed in the coming months, Yeo said: “I am just repeating to you what he told me and I think that is not an inaccurate inference.”
Also See: Myanmar ratifies ASEAN charter
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
RESILIENCE: Deepening bilateral cooperation would extend the peace sustained over the 45 years since the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead. Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei. In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
CAUTION URGED: Xiaohongshu and Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — are tools the Chinese government uses for its ‘united front’ propaganda, the MAC said Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday urged people who use Chinese social media platforms to be cautious of being influenced by Beijing’s “united front” propaganda and undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty. Chiu made the remarks in response to queries about Chinese academic Zhang Weiwei (張維為) saying that as young Taiwanese are fond of interacting on Chinese app Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English), “after unification with China, it would be easier to govern Taiwan than Hong Kong.” Zhang is professor of international relations at Shanghai’s Fudan University and director of its China Institute. When giving a speech at China’s Wuhan
RSS