UPDATE - ASEAN chair raises voice against getting into ‘great powers’ rivalry’

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT OF ASEAN CHAIR; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEAD; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Riyaz ul Khaliq and Islamuddin Sajid

ISTANBUL / ISLAMABAD (AA) – Placing stress on peace, stability, and prosperity in wider Asia-Pacific, Indonesia on Tuesday said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will never be a “proxy in great powers’ rivalry.”

“We need to send a clear message,” said Retno Marsudi, Indonesia’s foreign minister, suggesting against the bloc getting into the great power rivalry.

Indonesia, the current chair of ASEAN, hosted the bloc’s top diplomats on Tuesday for the regular 56th meeting.

Marsudi was addressing counterparts from ASEAN member nations.

Pointing out “more than five decades” of peace, stability, and prosperity in the region, she said: “We can’t take this for granted. Peace does not fall from the sky.”

“It is a result of a systematic effort to build an inclusive regional architecture, anchored in the habit of dialogue and collaboration based on the principles of the UN Charter, ASEAN Charter, and international law,” said Marsudi. “This is a key trademark of ASEAN.”

The wider Asia-Pacific has seen revival of alliances, including military ones, as the US and China vouch for influence.

While economic and military influence of Beijing in the region has expanded over the past few decades, Washington has cobbled up alliances with Quad, along with Australia, India and Japan, in the lead to counter China.

ASEAN is “open for cooperation without alienation,” the Indonesian foreign minister emphasized.

- ‘Move beyond confidence building measures’

The summit is expected to be attended by some 29 countries, along with the ASEAN Secretariat and the EU, and more than 1,100 delegates, according to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.

The top diplomats of ASEAN countries are likely to discuss the ongoing crisis in Myanmar and tensions in the disputed South China Sea.

Marsudi said the 10-member bloc has “no choice but to show that ASEAN can navigate the regional and global dynamics and continue to instill the paradigm of collaboration.”

“We can only achieve this if we maintain ASEAN unity and centrality,” she said.

However, she said the bloc “must prove that united we can address existing challenges, while also ready to anticipate and respond to future challenges.”

Without directly mentioning Myanmar, Marsudi said: “We need to move beyond confidence building measures and take bold step to deter any potential conflicts and aggressively waging for peace through preventive diplomacy.”

Myanmar does not attend the ASEAN summits but sends a non-political representative since the bloc has urged the junta to implement its Five-Point Consensus in the wake of military coup launched by the Burmese military in February 2021.

Earlier, the bloc's Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn briefed the foreign ministers on the implementation of the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty Plan of Action (2023-2027), a brief statement by the grouping said on Twitter.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are also expected to attend the summit which will continue till Friday.

China's chief foreign affairs advisor Wang Yi will attend the ASEAN meeting, Beijing said Tuesday.

ASEAN is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam – which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, and sociocultural integration between its members in Asia-Pacific.