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
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS