Southeast Asians fear new conflicts as great powers join ASEAN summit

JAKARTA, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo called on world leaders on Thursday to de-escalate tensions as they gathered for a summit hosted by Southeast Asia to focus on security and trade amid escalating rivalries between the great powers.

US Vice President Kamala Harris, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led summit in the Indonesian capital along with with leaders of partner countries: Japan, South Korea, India and Australia. and others.

An undercurrent of tension has accompanied talks on topics ranging from trade and technology to China’s growing assertiveness in the south china seahe burma the refusal of the military junta to cooperate with ASEAN on a peace plan and the suspicion that North Korea plans supply arms to Russia.

“We all have a responsibility not to create new conflicts, new tensions, new wars, and at the same time, we also have a responsibility to reduce tensions,” Widodo said at the outset, as president of the 10-member ASEAN bloc this year. of the East Asia Summit.

Indonesia said the forum should be a place for cooperation and not for festering animosities.

Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries have warned this week of “destructive” rivalries between major powers, referring to looming tensions between the United States and China that they say put them in jeopardy.

On Wednesday, China’s Li warned against starting a “new Cold War” and warned countries not to take sides in any conflict.

Harris, who attended the meetings in place of President Joe Biden, reiterated the United States’ commitment to the region.

“The United States has a long-standing commitment to Southeast Asia and more broadly to the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

A White House official earlier said the United States shared interests with ASEAN in “maintaining the rules-based international order, including in the South China Sea, in the face of China’s illegal maritime claims and provocative actions.”

Harris stressed US opposition to “unilateral changes to the status quo in the South China Sea and East China Sea” in meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, a spokesman for the White House. Both China and Japan claim a small group of islands in the East China Sea.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, another staunch US ally, said any attempt to change the status quo by force in the South China Sea could not be tolerated.

MYANMAR CRISIS

Li from China and Kishida from Japan met briefly on the sidelines of the summit on Wednesday and discussed Japan’s release into the sea of ​​treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

In response, an enraged China has banned all imports of aquatic products from Japan.

ASEAN leaders are also grappling with the conflict in Myanmar, a member of their group beset by violence since the military toppled the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.

ASEAN has unsuccessfully tried to push for peace in Myanmar, raising questions about the influence of its politically diverse group.

Earlier in the week, ASEAN leaders expressed “grave concern” over the lack of progress on their peace plan, but Myanmar said it rejected the comment and that ASEAN should stick to its principle of not interfering in the affairs of the the rest.

Bangladeshi President Mohammad Shahabuddin called for urgent measures to find a solution to the unrest in neighboring Myanmar. Nearly a million Rohingya Muslims are living in camps in Bangladesh after fleeing a military crackdown in Buddhist-majority Myanmar in 2017.

“It is the collective responsibility of the international community to find a lasting solution to this crisis,” he told a meeting with ASEAN and other countries.

UN Secretary General António Guterres said Myanmar was facing a “worsening of the political, humanitarian and human rights situation” and repeated calls for the junta to release all political prisoners.

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