FMT:
Jokowi warns Asean ‘can’t be proxy’ of any country
Indonesian president Joko Widodo’s speech comes amid US-China tensions over issues in the Asia-Pacific.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo said Asean is committed to guarding peace and stability in the region. (Reuters pic)
JAKARTA: Indonesian president Joko Widodo said today that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) cannot become a proxy for other countries, as US-China tensions rise over issues in the Asia-Pacific.
Foreign ministers from the Southeast Asian bloc have gathered in Jakarta for talks about regional issues from the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety, to the crisis in Myanmar, where China is its junta’s main ally.
Disagreements over the waterway have pitted some members of Asean against Beijing and boosted sympathy for US opposition to China’s growing assertiveness. Others have backed Beijing.
“Asean cannot be a competition, it can’t be a proxy of any country, and international law should be respected consistently,” Widodo told the ministers.
“We in Asean are committed to strengthening the unity and solidity as well as centrality in Asean to guard the peace and stability in the region.”
Tensions between the world’s two largest economies have soared in recent years over a host of issues, including China’s drills around self-ruled Taiwan and sweeping US export restrictions on advanced semiconductors.
The Jakarta meetings have been joined by both China and the US, whose top diplomats met yesterday on the sidelines in the Indonesian capital.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken warned China’s Wang Yi of consequences after a cybersecurity breach blamed on China again threatened to undermine a nascent stabilisation of ties, a US official told AFP.
Wang told Blinken that the US should not interfere in China’s affairs and “work with” Beijing to improve their relationship, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Asean has been divided on the Myanmar crisis and how to engage with its pro-China junta since the 2021 coup plunged the country into violent turmoil.
The bloc issued a much-debated communique yesterday that repeated its condemnation of violence. It reiterated that a five-point peace plan agreed with the junta, but largely ignored since, must remain the basis for resolving the conflict.
Myanmar remains an Asean member but its rulers have been barred from top-level summits over a lack of progress on the plan, which aims to end violence and resume talks between the military and the anti-coup movement.
“The Indo-Pacific should not be another battleground. Our region must remain stable, and we intend to keep it that way,” Indonesia’s foreign minister Retno Marsudi told ministers at the start of an 18-nation East Asia Summit ministerial meeting today.
JAKARTA: Indonesian president Joko Widodo said today that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) cannot become a proxy for other countries, as US-China tensions rise over issues in the Asia-Pacific.
Foreign ministers from the Southeast Asian bloc have gathered in Jakarta for talks about regional issues from the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety, to the crisis in Myanmar, where China is its junta’s main ally.
Disagreements over the waterway have pitted some members of Asean against Beijing and boosted sympathy for US opposition to China’s growing assertiveness. Others have backed Beijing.
“Asean cannot be a competition, it can’t be a proxy of any country, and international law should be respected consistently,” Widodo told the ministers.
“We in Asean are committed to strengthening the unity and solidity as well as centrality in Asean to guard the peace and stability in the region.”
Tensions between the world’s two largest economies have soared in recent years over a host of issues, including China’s drills around self-ruled Taiwan and sweeping US export restrictions on advanced semiconductors.
The Jakarta meetings have been joined by both China and the US, whose top diplomats met yesterday on the sidelines in the Indonesian capital.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken warned China’s Wang Yi of consequences after a cybersecurity breach blamed on China again threatened to undermine a nascent stabilisation of ties, a US official told AFP.
Wang told Blinken that the US should not interfere in China’s affairs and “work with” Beijing to improve their relationship, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Asean has been divided on the Myanmar crisis and how to engage with its pro-China junta since the 2021 coup plunged the country into violent turmoil.
The bloc issued a much-debated communique yesterday that repeated its condemnation of violence. It reiterated that a five-point peace plan agreed with the junta, but largely ignored since, must remain the basis for resolving the conflict.
Myanmar remains an Asean member but its rulers have been barred from top-level summits over a lack of progress on the plan, which aims to end violence and resume talks between the military and the anti-coup movement.
“The Indo-Pacific should not be another battleground. Our region must remain stable, and we intend to keep it that way,” Indonesia’s foreign minister Retno Marsudi told ministers at the start of an 18-nation East Asia Summit ministerial meeting today.
after the great speech he'll probably receive a message from blinken telling him america will tell all the jokes in your neighborhood, stop being funny
ReplyDeleteMyanmar and Cambodia are working as China proxies in Asean.
ReplyDeletePhilippines never really trusts the USA, but they have no choice but to find a partner willing to bat in their corner.
https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/philippine/sea-outpost-11292021150644.html
There is at least one Philippines outpost on a rusted hulk on a reef in the Spratlys, 180 km from Manila, 1,200 km from Hainan island, which is always one supply boat away from being starved off the outpost by a permanent China naval blockade. The Phillipines supply boats can only get through a maximum speed at night, always at risk of being
intercepted by Armed China warships 1,200 from the China mainland.
The sheer inequity of the China Might is Right attempt at hegemony over Philippines islands grates on them, and is a key reason why they need another major power on their side.
Those islands have been up for grabs for years - Pinoy used to "steal" islands we had put a stake on (concretized posts with signs), but those thieves dynamited those concrete posts, placed a platoon there all armed with heavy machine guns, & raised the Pinoy flag - we couldn't do a thing short of going to war with them - effing Pinoys ain't angels.
DeleteWhat is effing China doing carrying out an armed blockade 1,200 km from Hainan Island ?
Deleteas I stated (I presume you were too lazy to read and digest) those islands have been up for grabs for years, and where the Chinese now claimed to have grab them for centuries
DeleteYeah, right
DeleteThe land in front of your driveway has had contested ownership between neighbours for years, understandable, but the BIG Bully from 20 miles away trunks up with his Big Gun and carries out an armed blockade of your land.
And Arse lickers immediately proclaim the BIG Bully from 20 miles away has the right to the land.
Yeah, right.
Monster, have you ever consider this:
DeleteThe U.S. has about 750 overseas military bases in more than 80 countries, and Washington elites are pushing the country ever closer to conflict with China, says researcher David Vine
David Vine is Professor of Anthropology at American University. His other books include Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World and Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia
DeleteHow many kilometres is San Diego away from mainland USA?
DeleteR u trying to enlighten a f*cked recalcitrant Yankee asslicker about historical inheritance?
DeleteIt only has a silver of understanding about its own heirloom ownership based on that silverly spoon!
BTW,
Diego Garcia , like it or not , is under UK Government control , the the Yanks are in Diego Garcia with the permission of the UK Government.
ReplyDeleteDon't be such an idiotic China Arse-licker to equate Diego Garcia to China's armed blockade of the Phlipines military outpost 1,200 Km from Hainan Island.
(1) 750 overseas military bases in more than 80 countries,
Delete(2) whether under UK or Wankee control, isn't Diego Garcia way out of the American hemisphere, considering the distance is more than 10,000 miles? Do you mean to tell me you're using UK ownership as an excuse to allow Wankees to have a military base more than 10,000 miles from its own continent (leaving aside the 750 overseas military bases in more than 80 countries). Wouldn't that make you an idiotic Wankee Arse-licker? wakakaka
(3) what is 1200 km compared to the wankee's Diego Garcia (more than 10,000 miles away) (x 1.6 if you want km)
Here is an analogy in yr f*cked mold.
DeleteU inherited a piece of land way down from the valley from ye house. Due to various family feud reasons u have ignored to look after it.
Then yrs later u find out someone has built a mosque on it for the convenience of the many residents living around that valley.
The locals have laid claim to that land bcoz their worshiping building sits on it. & it's within their walking distance for their spiritual needs.
Mfer, what r u going to do?
U r so so far away from that land than those locals. Yr proximity fart works in this argument, no?
Can u send in yr macais to reclaim what's yrs?
Or can u setup a road block/outpost aka Diego Garcia, to safeguard yr entitlement?