JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian leaders decided Tuesday that Myanmar will not assume the rotating leadership of their regional bloc as scheduled in 2026, in the latest blow to efforts by its ruling generals to win international recognition after taking violently to power in 2021.
Western governments led by the United States have condemned the Myanmar military’s overthrow of the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 and have demanded her immediate release. of years of detention along with other officials. Resistance to the military takeover has escalated into what some UN experts have described as a civil war.
The Philippines agreed to assume the regional bloc’s presidency in 2026 at an Indonesia-hosted ASEAN summit on Tuesday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a statement, citing what he told fellow leaders in closed-door meetings.
“It is my pleasure to announce that the Philippines is ready to take over and chair ASEAN in 2026,” Marcos told his ASEAN counterparts in Jakarta, according to the statement.
An official ASEAN statement issued late Tuesday confirmed the decision to hand over the presidency to the Philippines in 2026 and affirmed the group’s commitment to a five-point plan to restore peace and stability to Myanmar.
Marcos did not explain why Myanmar lost the prestigious year-long ASEAN presidency, but two ASEAN diplomats told The Associated Press it was related to the ongoing civil conflict in the country and fears that the bloc’s relations with the United States and the European Union, among others, could be undermined due to its non-recognition of the military-led government in Myanmar.
The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue publicly.
The ASEAN leaders’ statement on Myanmar highlighted a desire to work with the generals to end the country’s crisis, especially in the context of the five point plan which Myanmar accepted in 2021 but has largely not implemented.
However, the leaders also urged “the Myanmar Armed Forces in particular, and all related parties in Myanmar to reduce violence and stop targeted attacks against civilians, houses and public facilities such as schools, hospitals, markets, churches and monasteries. “Previous ASEAN statements were less sharply worded.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the ASEAN declaration as one-sided and one-sided, and complained that the country had not been represented at the summit, which it claimed was a violation of ASEAN statutes.
“Although the ASEAN president consulted Myanmar on the draft document, Myanmar’s views and voices are not taken into account,” he said in a statement issued in Naypyidaw, the country’s capital.
In a punitive move for their failure to comply with the peace plan, Myanmar’s top generals and their designated officials were again barred from attending this year’s summit in Jakarta, despite suggestions by some member states that they would be allowed. return because their expulsion had failed to resolve the conflict. The country’s crisis.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said ASEAN leaders decided to go ahead with the peace plan despite assessment that it has not led to any progress in alleviating the crisis. Three nations (the bloc’s former, current and next presidents) were appointed to directly address the civil unrest in Myanmar, he told reporters.
Myanmar generals will continue to be barred from attending high-level ASEAN meetings, Marsudi said.
Myanmar’s security forces have killed some 4,000 civilians and arrested 24,410 others since the army’s takeover, according to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners, a human rights watchdog.
Ongoing deadly civil strife in Myanmar and new flare-ups of long-simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea were high on the agenda of the 10-nation bloc’s talks on Tuesday.
Tricky issues, including the US-China rivalry in the region, have sparked divisions within ASEAN, and Indonesian President Joko Widodo renewed his call for unity.
“All of us are aware of the magnitude of the challenges in today’s world, where the main key to meeting them is the unity and centrality of ASEAN,” Widodo told fellow leaders.
He compared the regional group to a large ship that transports the people of Southeast Asia. “ASEAN leaders must ensure that this ship can continue to sail,” Widodo said. “We must be captains of our own ships to achieve peace, stability and shared prosperity.”
After their summit on Tuesday, the leaders of the regional group will meet with their Asian and Western counterparts from Wednesday to Thursday, including US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is attending in place of President Joe Biden, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Minister of Russian Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov. .
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said before flying to Jakarta that he plans to offer guarantees on the safety of the discharge into the sea of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. The release began on August 24, and China immediately imposed a ban on all Japanese seafood.
When asked about the possibility of a meeting with Chinese Premier Li in Jakarta, Kishida said no decision had been made on the matter.
Kishida and three cabinet ministers recently ate sashimi of flounder, octopus and sea bass caught off the coast of Fukushima after the start of sewage release in an effort to show they were safe.
On territorial disputes in the South China Sea, ASEAN leaders “reaffirmed the need to enhance mutual trust, exercise self-control in carrying out activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability, and avoid actions that could further complicate the situation.” situation,” according to a post-summit statement to be issued by Widodo on behalf of the other leaders.
ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei are embroiled in territorial clashes in the South China Sea, which China claims almost entirely.
“We discussed the situation in the South China Sea, during which some ASEAN member states raised concerns about land reclamations, activities, serious incidents in the area, including actions that put the safety of all people at risk, damage to the sea environment, which have eroded trust, heightened tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region,” the leaders planned to say, using language similar to previous statements.
___
Associated Press writers Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.