Southeast Asia’s top diplomats yesterday held their annual talks by videoconference to discuss the immense crisis wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic and rising tensions in the South China Sea amid an escalating rivalry between Washington and Beijing.
The ASEAN ministerial meetings, delayed by a month, were held online due to continuing health risks posed by COVID-19.
The 10-nation bloc’s foreign ministers are later in the week to meet their Asian and Western counterparts, including those from the US and China, capped by an annual security forum. Vietnam is hosting the talks.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called for regional solidarity amid the headwinds in an austere opening ceremony attended by a few dozen diplomats in the capital, Hanoi.
“The valuable fruits of our cooperation are being tested in an environment full of volatility and unprecedented challenges, especially the COVID-19 pandemic,” Phuc said.
The talks focused on combating the pandemic and ways to help member states recover economically. A regional stockpile of medical supplies was approved and a study would research the possibility of establishing an ASEAN center on public health emergencies, said a diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A long-thorny issue on the agenda is the territorial disputes in the South China Sea involving Taiwan and China, and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
When the territorial conflicts were discussed, “concerns were expressed by some ministers on the land reclamations, activities and serious incidents in the area which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region,” a draft communique said.
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