The Committee to Protect Journalists and a group of Southeast Asian lawmakers have called for the “active engagement” of the regional bloc ASEAN in protecting press freedom and the formation of an inter-parliamentary alliance to safeguard media rights in the region, which includes some of the worst offenders of press freedom.
As governments escalate efforts to intimidate reporters and control narratives, journalism — and democracy itself — is under threat, said CPJ and the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, a group of lawmakers working to improve rights in the region. In a joint statement on the eve of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, they also called for stronger protection mechanisms for reporters and the reform of repressive laws that criminalize journalism.
There were at least 52 journalists behind bars in Southeast Asia on December 1, 2024, CPJ’s latest annual globalprison census shows. They were mainly held in Myanmar and Vietnam, while one journalist was being held in the Philippines. The Philippines and Myanmar have also consistentlyranked among the top offenders where murderers of journalists go free.
30 April 1975. Saigon Fell, Vietnam Rose. The story of Vietnam after the US fled the country is not a fairy tale, it is not a one-dimensional parable of resurrection, of liberation from oppression, of joy for all — but there is a great deal to celebrate.
After over a century of brutal colonial oppression by the French, the Japanese, and the Americans and their various minions, the people of Vietnam won victory in one of the great liberation struggles of history.
It became a source of inspiration and of hope for millions of people oppressed by imperial powers in Central & South America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Civil war – a war among several
The civil war in Vietnam, coterminous with the war against the Western powers, pitted communists and anti-communists in a long and pitiless struggle.
Within that were various strands — North versus South, southern communists and nationalists against pro-Western forces, and so on. As various political economists have pointed out, all wars are in some way class wars too — pitting the elites against ordinary people.
As has happened repeatedly throughout history, once one or more great power becomes involved in a civil war it is subsumed within that colonial war. The South’s President Ngô Đình Diệm, for example, was assassinated on orders of the Americans.
By 1969, US aid accounted for 80 percent of South Vietnam’s government budget; they effectively owned the South and literally called the shots.
Donald Trump declared April 2 “Liberation Day” and imposed some of the heaviest tariffs on Vietnam because they didn’t buy enough U.S. goods! Image: www.solidarity.co.nz
US punishes its victims
This month, 50 years after the Vietnamese achieved independence from their colonial overlords, US President Donald Trump declared April 2 “Liberation Day” and imposed some of the heaviest tariffs on Vietnam because they didn’t buy enough US goods!
As economist Joseph Stiglitz pointed out, they don’t yet have enough aggregate demand for the kind of goods the US produces. That might have something to do with the decades it has taken to rebuild their lives and economy from the Armageddon inflicted on them by the US, Australia, New Zealand and other unindicted war criminals.
Straight after they fled, the US declared themselves the victims of the Vietnamese and imposed punitive sanctions on liberated Vietnam for decades — punishing their victims.
Under Gerald Ford (1974–1977), Jimmy Carter (1977–1981), Ronald Reagan (1981–1989), George H.W. Bush (1989–1993) right up to Bill Clinton (1993–2001), the US enforced the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) of 1917.
The US froze the assets of Vietnam at the very time it was trying to recover from the wholesale devastation of the country.
Tens of millions of much-needed dollars were captured in US banks, enforced by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The US also took advantage of its muscle to veto IMF and World Bank loans to Vietnam.
Countries like Australia and New Zealand, to their eternal shame, took part in both the war, the war crimes, and imposing sanctions and other punitive measures subsequently.
The ‘Boat People’ refugee crisis While millions celebrated the victory in 1975, millions of others were fearful. The period of national unification and economic recovery was painful, typically repressive — when one militarised regime replaces another.
This triggered flight: firstly among urban elites — military officers, government workers, and professionals who were most closely-linked to the US-run regime.
You can blame the Commies for the ensuing refugee crisis but by strangling the Vietnamese economy, refusing to return Vietnamese assets held in the US, imposing an effective blockade on the economy via sanctions, the US deepened the crisis, which saw over two million flee the country between 1975 and the 1980s.
More than 250,000 desperate people died at sea.
Đổi Mới: the move to a socialist-market economy In 1986, to energise the economy, the government moved away from a command economy and launched the đổi mới reforms which created a hybrid socialist-market economy.
They had taken a leaf out of the Chinese playbook, which under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping (1978 –1989), had moved towards a market economy through its “Reform and Opening Up” policies. Vietnam saw the “economic miracle” of its near neighbour and its leaders sought something similar.
Vietnam’s economy boomed and GDP grew from $18.1 billion in 1984 to $469 billion by 2024, with a per capita GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) of $15,470 (up from about $300 per capita in the 1970s).
After a sluggish start, literacy rates soared to 96.1 percent by 2023, and life expectancy reached 73.7 years, only a few short of the USA. GDP growth is around 7 percent, according to the OECD.
An unequal society Persistent inequality suggests the socialist vision has partially faded. A rural-urban divide and a rich-poor divide underlines ongoing injustices around quality of life and access to services but Vietnam’s Gini coefficient — a measure of income inequality — puts it only slightly more “unequal” as a society than New Zealand or Germany.
Corruption is also an issue in the country.
Press controls and political repression As in China, political power resides with the Party. Freedom of expression — highlighted by press repression — is severely limited in Vietnam and nothing to celebrate.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) rates Vietnam as 174th out of 180 countries for press freedom and regularly excoriates its strongmen as press “predators”. In its country profile, RSF says of Vietnam: “Independent reporters and bloggers are often jailed, making Vietnam the world’s third largest jailer of journalists”.
Vietnam is forging its own destiny What is well worth celebrating, however, is that Vietnam successfully got the imperial powers off its back and out of its country. It is well-placed to play an increasingly prosperous and positive role in the emerging multipolar world.
It is part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the ASEAN network, and borders China, giving Vietnam the opportunity to weather any storms coming from the continent of America.
Vietnam today is united and free and millions of ordinary people have achieved security, health, education and prosperity vastly better than their parents and grandparents’ generations were able to.
In the end the honour and glory go to the Vietnamese people.
Ho Chi Minh, the great leader of the Vietnamese people who reached out to the United States, and sought alliance not conflict. Image: www.solidarity.co.nz
I’ll give the last word to Ho Chi Minh, the great leader of the Vietnamese people who reached out to the United States, and sought alliance not conflict. He was rebuffed by the super-power which had a different agenda.
On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh square:
“‘All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’
“This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.
“… A people who have courageously opposed French domination for more than eight years, a people who have fought side by side with the Allies against the Fascists during these last years, such a people must be free and independent.
“For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country — and in fact is so already. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilise all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.”
And, my god, they did.
To conclude, a short poem attributed to Ho Chi Minh:
“After the rain, good weather.
“In the wink of an eye,
the universe throws off its muddy clothes.”
Eugene Doyle is a community organiser and activist in Wellington, New Zealand. He received an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian award in 2023 for community service. His first demonstration was at the age of 12 against the Vietnam War. This article was first published at his public policy website Solidarity and is republished here with permission.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China and Southeast Asian nations are “politically committed” to establishing legally binding rules for their conduct in the South China Sea by next year, the Philippines’ foreign affairs secretary said, despite two decades of inconclusive discussions.
A code of conduct aims to establish a framework for ensuring peace in the South China Sea where Beijing’s expansive territorial claims overlap with the exclusive economic zones of some Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines and Vietnam.
“Everyone has agreed that we would all like to have a code by 2026,” said Enrique Manalo at a maritime security forum in Manila on Thursday.
“We still have to address important issues such as the scope of the code, also the nature of the code and its relation also to the declaration of the principles adopted in 2002 on the South China Sea,” he said.
“We hope, and we will do all that we can to try and achieve a successful negotiation.”
A South China Sea code of conduct has been under discussion for over two decades.
Separately, Philippines’ National Security Council spokesperson assistant director Jonathan Malaya described the talks as advancing at a “glacial pace.”
However, he was still optimistic they would be wrapped up within a year.
“Hopefully, by the time that the Philippines is chairman of the [regional forum] ASEAN, the code of conduct will be completed,” he said.
The Philippines will host the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2026.
Last year, Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged ASEAN to hasten talks on the code amid rising South China Sea tensions.
Fundamental issues such as geographic scope and the legal status of a nonbinding South China Sea declaration signed in 2002 still need to be resolved, he said.
Chinese aircraft carriers spotted near Philippines
The Philippine official’s comments on the code talks came as the country’s navy confirmed the presence of China’s Shandong aircraft carrier near its waters.
A Chinese electronic surveillance ship was also monitored off the northern coast of Luzon on Tuesday. The Philippine Navy challenged the presence of the Chinese warships, according to a navy spokesperson Cpt. John Percie Alcos.
“They’re actually conducting normal naval operations en route to a specific destination that we still do not know. Their passage was expeditious,” said Alcos.
The Chinese warship was seen as the Philippines, United States, and Japan prepared to conduct a joint sailing on Thursday as part of the annual Balikatan military exercises between Manila and Washington.
On Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun criticized the Philippines for its military drills with the U.S.
“The Philippines chose to conduct the large-scale military drills with this country outside the region and brought in strategic and tactical weapons to the detriment of regional strategic stability and regional economic prospects, which puts them on the opposite side of regional countries,” he said.
Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
Myanmar’s exiled civilian government held a meeting with the chair of the regional bloc ASEAN for the first time, amid mounting international pressure over the bloc’s engagement with the war-torn country’s military regime.
The virtual talks between delegates from the National Unity Government, or NUG, and Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian Prime Minister who also serves as the bloc’s chair, focused on Myanmar’s worsening humanitarian crisis, compounded by ongoing civil conflict as well as a recent devastating earthquake, according to the NUG.
“What we have said continuously is that we want ASEAN to simply recognize, accept and understand Myanmar’s reality. We think it’s a start,” Nay Bone Latt, the spokesperson for the NUG’s Prime Minister’s Office, told Radio Free Asia.
“We hope that more than this, the Myanmar people will be better understood and from this, we can probably come to create a good situation.”
Ibrahim also expressed hopeful views, calling the conversation “constructive.”
“Trust-building remains essential, and it is vital that this continues to be an ASEAN-led effort,” he said on his X social media account. “We will continue to engage all parties in support of peace, reconciliation and the well-being of the people of Myanmar.”
Ibrahim’s move is widely seen as an effort to balance or mitigate criticism following a separate in-person meeting on Thursday in Bangkok between him and junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, which was also attended by Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The leaders discussed aid by ASEAN in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake that killed more than 3,700 people in Myanmar, the country’s state-run broadcaster MRTV reported.
The ASEAN has played a frequent, though largely ineffective, role in trying to resolve Myanmar’s deepening civil war since the junta seized power in a 2021 coup.
In the aftermath of the coup, ASEAN put forward the Five-Point Consensus – a peace framework calling for an immediate end to violence, the delivery of humanitarian aid, the release of political prisoners, and inclusive dialogue involving all parties.
However, Myanmar’s junta has consistently defied these conditions while remaining a member of the bloc. As a result, ASEAN has barred the junta’s political representatives from its high-level summits but has stopped short of taking more forceful action.
Critics say the bloc’s principle of non-interference has rendered it powerless to hold the junta accountable, allowing the regime to prolong the conflict without consequence. Human rights groups and pro-democracy advocates have also accused ASEAN of legitimizing the military by continuing to engage with it diplomatically.
Several ceasefires – including China-brokered ones – have repeatedly collapsed, as fighting between the military and dozens of ethnic rebel groups and pro-democracy forces continues to rage across the country.
‘Step forward’
For Myanmar’s opposition groups, the meeting marks a rare and significant step forward, said China-based analyst Hla Kyaw Zaw.
“For ASEAN, this is the first time it has formally engaged with revolutionary forces,” she said. “Strangely, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing accepted this time that the ASEAN chairperson would meet with the NUG.”
Her remarks refer to Ibrahim’s statement that the junta did not object when he informed them of his plan to speak with representatives of the NUG – a shift in tone, given the junta’s previous stance.
Since the 2021 coup, the military regime has labeled the NUG and its allies as “terrorists” and has consistently opposed any international recognition or engagement with them.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.
In his first term as president of the United States, Donald Trump launched a trade war against China. In his second term, he has expanded that trade war to many countries around the world.
In a ceremony outside the White House on April 2, which the US president dubbed “Liberation Day”, Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on dozens of countries, including high taxes on imports from top US trading partners: 54% on China, 46% on Vietnam, 25% on South Korea, 24% on Japan, and 20% on the European Union.
Trump falsely claimed that these tariffs were “reciprocal”, but they were actually unilateral.
On February 6, the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) announced the successful completion of a counter-piracy training exercise held the previous day off Cape Muroto in Shikoku, Japan. The exercise involved the 3,100-ton, helicopter-equipped patrol vessel Settsu and the commercial bulk carrier Corona Queen, operated by the Japanese logistics company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. This exercise […]
Tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea have been making more headlines in 2025 after escalating alarmingly last year.
Some other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, meanwhile, are trying to maintain good relations with their big neighbor to the north, whose economic and political influence is only growing in importance, while protecting their interests in the disputed waterway.
Reporters from RFA and BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news organization, look at how three countries on the South China Sea are approaching relations with China.
INDONESIA: Growing openness toward China
In November 2024, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, stunned South China Sea watchers with a sentence in a joint statement issued in China on his first overseas trip since becoming president.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, right, with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2024.(China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
The seemingly innocuous line explained that Jakarta and Beijing had reached an “important common understanding on joint development in areas of overlapping claims” in the South China Sea.
But analysts were quick to point out that by acknowledging overlapping maritime boundaries, Prabowo and his officials had effectively acknowledged the legitimacy of China’s claims, something Indonesia had never done before.
Indonesia had always insisted that China’s so-called nine-dash line, which it uses on its maps to claim historic rights over most of the South China Sea, has no legal basis, as seen in a note verbale to the United Nations in May 2020.
Indonesia realized the mistake and issued a correction two days later, saying mutual recognition of differences and disputes does not equal accepting the other side’s legitimacy and China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea still lacked legal basis.
Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, in Jakarta said that nevertheless, there has been “a shift toward a closer relationship that could reduce Jakarta’s assertiveness in the South China Sea under President Prabowo Subianto.”
China is Indonesia’s largest trading partner and one of its biggest sources of foreign direct investment, and expanding economic ties have been a major factor in Jakarta’s decision-making.
This year, Indonesia became the first Southeast Asia member of the BRICS bloc led by China.
Raden Mokhamad Luthfi, a defense analyst at Al Azhar University Indonesia said that there was growing openness toward China, not just in trade and investment but also in security cooperation.
Prabowo’s dominant role in foreign policy appears to have sidelined Indonesia’s ministry of foreign affairs, he said.
“I am concerned that under Prabowo’s leadership, Indonesian diplomats may have less space to provide input and guidance on how the country’s foreign policy should be shaped,” Luthfi said.
Waffaa noted a sense that “Indonesia is increasingly practicing self-censorship when dealing with China.”
“One possible explanation is China’s proactive diplomatic approach, which includes strong responses, or even retaliatory measures, against criticism,” he said. “This makes Indonesia more cautious, possibly fearing economic repercussions and as a result, it has become difficult to openly address concerns over sovereignty and international law.”
Indonesia is one of the founding members of ASEAN and long served as its de-facto leader, playing a crucial role in mediating regional crises. Analysts warned that its leadership in the group on the South China Sea issue would wane if it stopped championing international legal norms.
Indonesian navy personnel welcome British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, in Jakarta on Jan. 15, 2025.(BAY ISMOYO/AFP)
Indonesia has repeatedly said that it is not a party to territorial disputes in the South China Sea. But its law enforcement agencies have had to deal with encroachment and illegal fishing, including by Chinese vessels in the waters off the Natuna islands.
A major question now is whether warming relations will keep encroachments at bay.
MALAYSIA: Aligning with China’s preferences?
Malaysia’s leaders have always seen China as an important neighbor and partner with which they have to navigate a complex relationship.
The two countries established a comprehensive partnership in 2013 and China is Malaysia’s top economic partner, with trade worth more than US$200 billion in 2022. In comparison, Malaysia-U.S. trade was US$73 billion in the same year.
Since coming to power in 2022, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has made it clear that fostering good ties with China is one of his priorities.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaks at a World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2025.(Yves Herman/Reuters)
Regarding territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Malaysia’s long-standing policy has been to protect its sovereignty via international law. Malaysia has never recognized China’s nine-dash line and even ordered the removal of a scene from an animated movie that showed it.
Yet some of the prime minister’s comments have stirred controversy.
In March 2024, in a speech at the Australian National University in Canberra, Anwar said that countries needed to put themselves in China’s shoes and trying to block its economic and technological advancement would only bring grievances.
In November, after meeting President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Anwar said that Malaysia was “ready to negotiate” on the South China Sea, suggesting bilateral negotiations over conflicting claims in the waters off the coast of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia.
At the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in January, once again the Malaysian leader stated that China should not be singled out for the tensions in the South China Sea, striking a clear pro-Beijing tone.
“Malaysia’s desire to exclude other countries, such as Australia, Japan and the United States, from South China Sea disputes aligns with China’s preferences,” wrote Euan Graham, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
“It also helps China’s behind-the-scenes efforts to influence negotiations with ASEAN on a code of conduct for the South China Sea,” Graham added.
China and ASEAN have been discussing the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea for years but have yet to reach a final agreement.
In February, during a trip to Brunei, Anwar called for the code to be completed “as soon as possible” to address escalating tensions in the waterway. Malaysia is the ASEAN chair this year.
“I believe Malaysia prefers to settle the issue among the stakeholders through dialogue and engagement without any intervention from outside,” said Lee Pei May, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the International Islamic University Malaysia.
“If there is intervention from outside powers, I believe the situation would be chaotic,” Lee said. “The U.S., U.K. and other powers, they are not directly related to the dispute so they are considered outside powers.”
The U.S. and its regional allies, for their part, argue that they are also Pacific nations, and have interest in a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Malaysia’s offshore patrol vessel KD Terengganu takes part in the AMAN-25 exercise off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan, on Feb. 10, 2025.(Asif Hassan/AFP)
Some analysts said that the Anwar administration, despite being criticized for its seemingly pro-Beijing stance, had not compromised Malaysia’s claims in the South China Sea.
“To be sure, Malaysia has adopted a very different approach to the South China Sea dispute than either Vietnam or the Philippines,” said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
Anwar’s policy still “allows Malaysia to maintain close ties with China while asserting its territorial claims and protecting its sovereign rights,” he said.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that China opposed construction on “illegally occupied islands and reefs,” referring to the features that Vietnam began reclaiming in the 2020s.
It is not a secret that Vietnam wants to strengthen defenses against China’s dominance in the Spratly islands and the island building has received strong support from the Vietnamese public as the sign of a refusal to compromise on sovereignty.
“If you listen to leaders’ speeches on both sides, Vietnam-China relations appear to be warm and flourishing,” said Dinh Kim Phuc, a South China Sea researcher. “But Hanoi’s developments in the South China Sea show that they don’t really trust each other very much.”
A supply vessel sprays water near the Lan Tay gas platform, operated by Rosneft Vietnam, in the South China Sea off Vietnam on April 29, 2018.(Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
With China’s first public protest against the island building, it seems that an “informal understanding” with Vietnam is over, noted Bill Hayton, an associate fellow at the British think tank Chatham House. This tacit compromise meant that for a few years Vietnam did not look for oil and gas inside China’s nine-dash line and China said nothing about Vietnam’s island building, Hayton said.
There may be several explanations for China’s objection but analysts believe Vietnam’s expanding ties with the United States is a major factor.
Looking at overseas trips by Vietnam’s leaders, including the new Communist Party chief To Lam, Vietnam also seems to “emphasize the values of ASEAN and the West” in its strategic thinking, according to Phuc.
Vietnam has been reported as wanting to elevate ties with fellow ASEAN members Indonesia and Singapore to comprehensive strategic partnerships, the highest level of bilateral relations, this year.
But that doesn’t mean that a decoupling from China would happen any time soon, analysts say, as Vietnam’s economy depends greatly on Chinese trade and investment.
On the same day that China criticized Vietnam’s “illegal occupation” in the South China Sea, Vietnam’s parliament approved a multi-billion-dollar railway running from the Chinese border to the South China Sea. Part of the funding is expected to come from China, despite some public unease about the potential debt.
Gestures by General Secretary To and other leaders that can be seen as “pro-West” or “anti-China” are deemed as “merely populist” byDang Dinh Manh, a Vietnamese dissident lawyer now living in the U.S.
“They need to appease the general domestic public, which is increasingly nationalistic,” Manh said, adding that in his opinion the Hanoi leadership needed to appease China, too, and how to strike a balance can be “a serious task”, especially when it comes to sovereignty in the South China Sea.
Edited by Mike Firn
Pizaro Gozali Idrus in Jakarta and Iman Muttaqin Yusof in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this article.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA and BenarNews Staff.
JAKARTA, BANGKOK, KUALA LUMPUR and MANILA — Southeast Asia is greeting Donald Trump’s return to the White House with a mix of hope and hesitation as he embarks on his second term as U.S. president.
Trump took the oath of office on Monday inside the Capitol after the ceremony was moved indoors because of weather reports that a polar vortex would bring frigid temperatures to the nation’s capital.
Even as regional leaders anticipate greater engagement with the United States, a controversial moment involving his defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, has raised concerns about how the administration will treat relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer and television commentator, was unable to name ASEAN member states or identify the bloc’s size during his confirmation hearing last week, drawing criticism both in Washington and across Southeast Asia.
“He doesn’t understand that the Defense Department’s work in the South China Sea, where the U.S. plays a major role, involves many ASEAN countries,” Isa Gharti, a public policy researcher at Chiang Mai University in Thailand, told RFA affiliate BenarNews. “This lack of understanding could bring problems to ASEAN countries in the long term.”
Defense Secretary-nominee Pete Hegseth (center, red tie) attends the service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025.(AP)
ASEAN has been central to Washington’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific. The bloc, which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore among its 10 members, represents more than 680 million people and collectively forms the world’s fifth-largest economy.
The United States counts two other ASEAN nations, Thailand and the Philippines, as treaty allies and has sought to deepen ties with the group to counter China’s growing influence in the region. The U.S. military has access to nine Philippine bases.
China has made significant inroads in Southeast Asia, investing in infrastructure projects and using its economic clout to build partnerships. The South China Sea, where Beijing’s territorial claims overlap with those of several ASEAN nations, remains a key flashpoint in the region.
While Hegseth fumbled in responding to questions from Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who was born in Bangkok and injured in combat while serving in the U.S. military, regional leaders have expressed optimism about U.S. engagement under Trump’s leadership.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has congratulated Trump on his victory and expressed his desire for a personal meeting.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim hailed Trump’s election a “remarkable political comeback” and voiced optimism about the potential for a deeper partnership with the United States.
Analysts react
Raden Mokhamad Luthfi, a defense analyst at Universitas Al Azhar Indonesia, said he is skeptical about future defense relations between the United States and Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, citing what he described as Hegseth’s and Trump’s unfavorable views of Muslims.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, are greeted as they arrive for a service at St. John’s Episcopal Church across from the White House in Washington ahead of his inauguration, Jan. 20, 2025.(Matt Rourke/AP)
Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the Philippine rights group Karapatan, accused Washington of using allies including the Philippines to further its strategic goals.
“Trump’s hostility toward China certainly matches, if not surpasses, that of Biden,” Palabay said.
In Bangkok, Phumtham Wechayachai, Thai deputy prime minister and defense minister, struck a cautious tone.
“After Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president, we need to see what adjustments may be needed,” Phumtham told reporters. “Overall, the foundation of U.S.-Thai relations is already good. We will consider any proposals according to Thai principles and make any adjustments that benefit the nation.”
Other analysts suggested that Hegseth’s misstep might not significantly impact U.S. engagement with the region.
“It would be folly to assume that just because the secretary of defense may not be familiar with ASEAN, that is tantamount to weaker U.S. engagement,” said Julio Amador, a geopolitical analyst based in Manila. “The Pentagon is a huge bureaucracy and Hegseth’s deputies are well-versed in the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific.”
Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, argued that ASEAN is not strategically significant to the United States.
“Perhaps some ASEAN member states are, but ASEAN as an institution isn’t, especially in an era when enthusiasm for multilateral organizations has waned,” Waffaa told BenarNews.
He added that Trump’s first term as president was “not particularly enthusiastic” about ASEAN.
“They came up with initiatives which were seen as undermining ASEAN, including the Quad,” he said, referring to a security dialogue among the United States, Japan, India and Australia.
‘Limited awareness’
Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, a partner at ADA Southeast Asia, a regional consultancy firm, said Hegseth’s “gaffe underscores the limited awareness of ASEAN in American political circles.”
Still, concerns remain about the Trump administration’s long-term priorities.
Philippine activists protest near the U.S. Embassy in Manila ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump as U.S. president in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025.(Gerard Carreon/BenarNews)
“We will need to plan for a worst-case scenario in which Trump and Xi will reach a modus vivendi that sacrifices the Philippines’ national interests,” Rommel Jude Ong, a retired Philippine Navy rear admiral, told BenarNews while calling for stronger ties with other regional powers such as Japan and Australia. Xi is Xi Jinping, China’s president.
Meanwhile, a social media user in Southeast Asia questioned Hegseth’s comments.
“Not having heard of ASEAN doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. All of us here in the ASEAN are cringing over what’s happening over there in the West,” a Filipina who goes by the username @tessgarcia wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Geography-challenged people like Hegseth are probably the reason the U.S. lost in Vietnam (an ASEAN country).”
Jason Gutierrez and Gerard Carreon in Manila, Jon Preechawong in Bangkok, Iman Muttaqin Yusof and Iskandar Zulkarnain in Kuala Lumpur, Pizaro Gozali Idrus and Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by BenarNews staff.
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia will take over as the 2025 chair of ASEAN amid regional expectations that it will restore the Southeast Asian bloc’s relevance during a time of global ferment, analysts said.
Kuala Lumpur may well succeed but for one sticking point – questions about its neutrality amid big-power rivalry.
“Inclusivity and Sustainability,” Malaysia’s theme for its year-long chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, points to a focus on the region’s priorities, said Elina Noor, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“There are certainly expectations for Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship, but it will be up to Malaysia to live up to those expectations in pushing through with its agenda together with all the other [nine] member-states,” she told BenarNews.
Additionally, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has indicated he “intends for ASEAN to reclaim its independent agency, to diversify its strategic engagement, and to not be pulled in any one direction among major powers,” she said.
Anwar’s perceived tilt towards China and Russia versus the United States notwithstanding, he has stressed ASEAN collaboration in a polarized world.
“As global tensions intensify – from strategic competition to climate disruption – ASEAN’s collaborative spirit has never been more crucial,” the PM wrote in a column published Dec. 16 on Project Syndicate, a website that publishes global commentary.
“The choice is stark: ASEAN must move forward in unity or face the divisive forces gathering momentum across Asia and beyond,” he said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (bottom right) and U.S. President Joe Biden (top left) share a light moment ahead of a photo session of leaders, as Vietnamese President Luong Cuong (top right) and then-South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol look on, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit held this year in Lima, Nov. 16, 2024.(Leah Millis/Reuters)
As ASEAN chair, Anwar will also define Malaysia’s own role as a middle power, analysts said.
Explanations vary on what constitutes a middle power, but it broadly refers to states that are not superpowers yet have considerable influence on international relations.
Anwar’s diplomatic engagements, including visits to South America for the Asia Pacific economic forum APEC and the G20 summit reflect Malaysia’s efforts to elevate its own global standing and its plans for ASEAN in 2025, said Yanitha Meena Louis, an analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia.
He has been consistently focussing “on ASEAN and ASEAN mechanisms and the aim to make it more fit for mobilizing efforts within the Global South,” Yanitha told BenarNews.
“It will be a defining year for ASEAN in the sense that we will be able to see where ASEAN stands and hopes to see itself in the Global South, a strategic configuration of growing consequence,” Yanitha said.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump (left) attends a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019.(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Anwar has reiterated that Malaysia has not shifted alliances eastward and remains non-aligned, but some have questioned his several trips to Beijing since becoming PM and his invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the 2025 ASEAN Summit.
Hazree Mohd Turee, managing director of advisory firm Bower Group Asia, also noted that Malaysia and two other ASEAN member-states, Indonesia and Thailand, partnering with the China- and Russia-led BRICS grouping may give the impression the Southeast Asian bloc is taking sides.
BRICS is an economic grouping that includes Brazil, Russia, India and China and South Africa.
“Even though Anwar talks about neutrality, the perception is otherwise,” Hazree told RFA affiliate BenarNews.
“Singapore and the Philippines [ASEAN members], for example, have strong ties with the U.S. … and may find it uncomfortable,” Hazee added.
A pile of U.S. dollars counted out by a teller at a bank in Westminster, in the U.S. state of Colorado, Nov. 3, 2009.(Rick Wilking/Reuters)
It is imperative for Anwar to ensure that ASEAN is not only neutral, but seen as being so, said Southeast Asia expert Matthijs van den Broek.
For example, U.S. President-electDonald Trump has threatened to impose massive tariffs on nations he believes are trying to weaken the U.S. dollar. His comments came after speculation that BRICS planned its own currency.
“Both China and the U.S. are among ASEAN’s top foreign trading and investment partners [respectively. … Malaysia as chair will have to step up its diplomatic efforts to not alienate either.”
South China Sea and Myanmar
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s approach to the South China Sea dispute, where several ASEAN countries have overlapping claims, will test its diplomatic finesse, analysts noted.
Unlike the Philippines, Malaysia has not adopted a hardline stance against China, and this could help or hinder its South China Sea work, they added.
“Malaysia could provide the opportunities and platforms for more engagement between ASEAN members and China to resolve the Code of Conduct negotiations,” Abdul Rahman Yaacob of the Australian think-tank, the Lowy Institute, told BenarNews.
“[But] China may not be willing to accept Malaysia as a mediator as Beijing prefers to engage Manila directly,” he said, adding that similarly, Philippines and Vietnam may look towards the United States for help in disputes over the contested waterway.
Chinese Coast Guard vessels fire water cannons towards a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 on its way to a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, March 5, 2024.(Adrian Portugal/Reuters)
In relation to another regional conflict, the civil war in ASEAN member-state Myanmar, some observers have questioned Anwar’s recently appointing Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is perceived as being pro-military, an ASEAN informal adviser.
Anwar has also suggested creating an advisory group of former ASEAN leaders to address the Myanmar situation.
Since the February 2021 military coup, nearly 6,000 people have been killed, and over 21,000 remain in detention, many held incommunicado, according to U.N. experts.
For Alice Ba, University of Delaware political science professor, Thaksin’s appointment is a possible signal that Malaysia is looking to break the deadlock on Myanmar.
“There remain significant divisions within ASEAN on how to engage with the Tatmadaw [Myanmar’s junta], but these moves suggest that the desire to move beyond the current impasse might outweigh those concerns,” she told BenarNews.
However, Kamarulnizam Abdullah, a Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia professor, said the Thaksin appointment was not a good move.
“His comments on Thaksin’s appointment have been met with cynicism both regionally and domestically,” Kamarulnizam told BenarNews.
“Anwar needs to play his cards right.”
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Iman Muttaqin Yusof for BenarNews.
Delivered by: Cornelius Damar Hanung (East Asia – ASEAN Programme Manager)
Excellencies, FORUM-ASIA congratulate Indonesia and Lao PDR for chairing the 6th ASEAN Human Rights Dialogue. On this occasion, as a civil society with a consultative relationship with the AICHR, we would like to express our view and deep concerns regarding the human rights situation in Southeast Asia.
In 2024, we have observed alarming trends of democratic backsliding, shrinking civic space, and widespread violations of environmental rights and human rights across the region. Governments in Southeast Asia have increasingly resorted to repressive laws to silence critics, protestors, opposition parties, NGOs, journalists, and vulnerable communities advocating for human rights and justice. Excessive use of force by law enforcement against protesters, including youth and students, has also been documented in several countries. We also remain deeply concerned about the ongoing humanitarian and human rights crises in Myanmar, where the military junta continues to perpetrate atrocities, forced conscription, and impunity, further worsening an already dire situation with little to no meaningful intervention from ASEAN.
Environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) are facing increasing threats. Since 2021, FORUM-ASIA has documented over 330 cases of violations against EHRDs in Asia, 80 percent of which have occurred within ASEAN countries. These defenders continue to face attacks, threats, judicial harassment, and intimidation, signaling an urgent need for stronger regional action and accountability. We remain concerned that the current effort to adopt an environmental rights framework of ASEAN does not put protection on those who defend the environment as priority.
Lastly, transnational repression is on the rise, as ASEAN member states collaborate to target human rights defenders and activists beyond their borders. In 2024, Cambodian activists in exile faced arrest, and Vietnamese defenders risked extradition from Thailand.
FORUM-ASIA calls on ASEAN leaders to address these human rights violations, particularly by institutionalizing a more robust human rights instrument in ASEAN. In particular, we call on ASEAN to include stronger commitment and action points in protection of human rights defenders, including EHRDs, in ASEAN Vision 2045, revision of AICHR Term of Reference to embed more protection mandate, and the ASEAN Framework on Environmental Rights. We thank you.
Multi-lateral cooperation keep strong as regional terrorism persists. As the war in Ukraine rolls into its third year, strategic competition across the vast maritime expanses and land masses of Asia-Pacific also presses ahead as state actors strive for military advantage. These contemporary threats are clear to see and were identified in a Congressional Research Service […]
The chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations called for an end to the war in Myanmar, but armed rebel groups called that “unrealistic,” saying the ruling military junta has shown no willingness to dialogue.
In Sunday’s statement, Laos – this year’s chair of the 10-nation group, whose leaders gathered last week in Vientiane – called for inclusive peace talks to end the civil war, which has raged since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup d’etat.
It also called on Myanmar to establish a “conducive environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogue,” using the bloc’s “five-point consensus” as a guideline to resolve the country’s political crisis.
Rebel groups in Myanmar were quick to dismiss the call, saying the onus is on the junta.
“It depends on the junta,” said Salai Htet Ni, the spokesperson of the ethnic Chin National Army. “How can the junta be flexible? Actually, the junta failed to implement any of the five-point consensus that ASEAN put forth.”
ASEAN’s call is “very unrealistic” due to the junta’s actions, said Lway Yay Oo, spokesperson for the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, which has been fighting the military in the north. The TNLA would consider dialogue only if the military leaves politics after acknowledging responsibility for war crimes, she said.
Not long after the coup, ASEAN proposed a five-point peace plan for Myanmar, which the grouping calls a “consensus,” including a ceasefire and talks. But Myanmar’s generals have ignored it, battling on against a loose alliance of ethnic minority forces and pro-democracy fighters who have this year been making significant battlefield gains.
The ASEAN statement drew a rebuke from Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, which was formed by officials deposed in the military’s putsch.
“Instead of demanding ‘to resolve the crisis peacefully,’ ASEAN should have urged the junta and its chief, [Senior Gen.] Min Aung Hlaing to release all political prisoners unconditionally as a first step,” said Nay Phone Latt, spokesman for the NUG’s Prime Minister’s Office.
Aung Kyaw Moe, the junta’s permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, joined the most recent ASEAN summit despite Myanmar’s downgrade within the bloc due to the junta’s continued use of violence against the opposition.
The junta had boycotted earlier meetings, and observers told RFA last week that they saw the move as part of a bid by the military regime to “seek a way out of the current political crisis.”
‘Significant divide’ to bridge
Speaking to RFA on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, a commentator on ASEAN affairs noted that while the bloc has engaged with the junta in peace-building efforts, it has seen few results.
“ASEAN might have considered that they could persuade the Myanmar junta to join political dialogue after they held talks at the summit,” he said. “However, the bloc has yet to make any progress.”
ASEAN attendees pose for a group photo at the 14th ASEAN-United Nations Summit in Vientiane on Oct. 11, 2024. (Nhac Nguen/AFP)
The analyst said it remains to be seen how ASEAN will bridge “the significant divide” between Myanmar’s junta and the armed opposition.
Attempts by RFA to contact junta spokesperson Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the ASEAN chair’s statement went unanswered.
A former military officer, who also declined to be named citing fear of reprisal, told RFA that an all-inclusive peace dialogue will happen only if the junta gains “a significant military advantage” over opposition forces.
The junta offered a peace dialogue at the end of September, but it was rejected by the opposition.
Observers suggested the peace proposal was a “trick,” that would allow the junta to hold elections.
The junta is holding a national census from Oct. 1-15 that will be used to draw up voter lists for an election they say will restore democratic rule – though opponents are doubtful.
Ethnic minority armies and rebel groups that have taken control of vast swaths of territory once held by the military oppose the election, saying it will be a sham and only serve to legitimize the junta’s control.
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
The United States is concerned about China’s “increasingly dangerous and unlawful actions” in disputed regional waterways, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Southeast Asian leaders on Friday while reiterating U.S. support for freedom of navigation and flight.
Offshore territorial disputes between an increasingly assertive China and its neighbors have raised fears of an armed clash and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, has been trying to negotiate a “code of conduct” with China to prevent that.
But progress on the code has been slow while confrontations in disputed waters have been increasing between Chinese maritime authorities and vessels from the Philippines and Vietnam, in particular.
“We remain concerned about China’s increasingly dangerous and unlawful actions in the South and East China Seas, which have injured people and harmed vessels from ASEAN nations, and contradict commitments to peaceful resolution of disputes,” Blinken told the opening of an ASEAN-US summit in Laos.
“The United States will continue to support freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea while ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, have overlapping claims to parts of it, as does Taiwan.
China also has a territorial dispute with Japan in the East China Sea.
China’s Premier Li Qiang addresses the 27th ASEAN-China Summit during the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane on Oct. 10, 2024. (Nhac Nguyen/AFP)
Chinese Premier Li Qiang also held a summit with ASEAN leaders in the Lao capital, Vientiane. He did not mention territorial disputes in his opening remarks on Thursday but hailed “new strides” in building a community with a “shared future.”
“Our political mutual trust has deepened; our traditional friendship has grown stronger; and our practical cooperation has expanded,” Li said.
‘Manage tensions’
In a veiled reference to the United States, with which China competes for influence in the region, Li told an ASEAN Plus Three Summit on Thursday that the region faced instability and uncertainty, “especially the frequent interference and disturbance of foreign forces, and even attempts to introduce camp confrontation and geopolitical conflicts into Asia.”
“Asia had suffered from the scourge of colonization and invasion in modern times, but over the past decades, our region has maintained rapid development. That is because Asian countries have drawn lessons from the past and endeavored to uphold peace and stability in the region,” the Chinese premier said.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. complained to ASEAN leaders on Thursday of Chinese “harassment and intimidation,” in the South China Sea.
Writing on Facebook he added that the situation required more than just dialogue.
“It calls for a genuine commitment from all parties to manage tensions, uphold international laws and find common ground,” Marcos said.
Vietnam’s prime minister, Pham Minh Chinh, called for the ASEAN code of conduct on the South China Sea to be completed and for a peaceful resolution of the offshore disputes.
“He underlined the need to enhance dialogue and peacefully resolve disputes in the region, including in the East Sea, turning the East Sea into a zone of peace, stability, cooperation, and long-term sustainable development,” the state-run state Voice of Vietnamreported, using Vietnam’s name for the South China Sea.
“He called for the substantive and effective conclusion of the code of conduct negotiations in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” it reported.
In a landmark 2016 decision, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s claims in the South China Sea were not supported by international law. China rejects that decision.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Pimuk Rakkanam for RFA.
Indonesia’s commitment to the Pacific continues to be strengthened. One of the strategies is through a commitment to resolving human rights cases in Papua, reports a Kompas correspondent who attended the Pacific International Media Conference in Suva earlier this month.
By Laraswati Ariadne Anwar in Suva
The Pacific Island countries are Indonesia’s neighbours. However, so far they are not very familiar to the ears of the Indonesian people.
One example is Fiji, the largest country in the Pacific Islands. This country, which consists of 330 islands and a population of 924,000 people, has actually had relations with Indonesia for 50 years.
In the context of regional geopolitics, Fiji is the anchor of Indonesian diplomacy in the Pacific.
Fiji is known as a gateway to the Pacific. This status has been held for centuries because, as the largest country and with the largest port, practically all commodities entering the Pacific Islands must go through Fiji.
Along with Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) of New Caledonia, Fiji forms the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).
Indonesia now has the status of a associate member of the MSG, or one level higher than an observer.
For Indonesia, this closeness to the MSG is important because it is related to affirming Indonesia’s sovereignty.
Human rights violations
The MSG is very critical in monitoring the handling of human rights violations that occur in Papua. In terms of sovereignty, the MSG acknowledges Indonesia’s sovereignty as recorded in the Charter of the United Nations.
The academic community in Fiji is also highlighting human rights violations in Papua. As a Melanesian nation, the Fijian people sympathise with the Papuan community.
In Fiji, some individuals hold anti-Indonesian sentiment and support pro-independence movements in Papua. In several civil society organisations in Suva, the capital of Fiji, the Morning Star flag of West Papuan independence is also raised in solidarity.
Talanoa or a focused discussion between a media delegation from Indonesia and representatives of Fiji academics and journalists in Suva on July 3 – the eve of the three-day Pacific Media Conference. Image: Laraswati Ariadne Anwar/Kompas
Even so, Fijian academics realise that they lack context in examining Indonesian problems. This emerged in a talanoa or focused discussion with representatives of universities and Fiji’s mainstream media with a media delegation from Indonesia. The event was organised by the Indonesian Embassy in Suva.
Academics say that reading sources about Indonesia generally come from 50 years ago, causing them to have a limited understanding of developments in Indonesia. When examined, Indonesian journalists also found that they themselves lacked material about the Pacific Islands.
Both the Fiji and Indonesian groups realise that the information they receive about each other mainly comes from Western media. In practice, there is scepticism about coverage crafted according to a Western perspective.
“There must be open and meaningful dialogue between the people of Fiji and Indonesia in order to break down prejudices and provide space for contextual critical review into diplomatic relations between the two countries,” said Associate Professor Shailendra Singh, a former journalist who is now head of the journalism programme at the University of the South Pacific (USP). He was also chair of the 2024 Pacific International Media Conference Committee which was attended by the Indonesian delegation.
‘Prejudice’ towards Indonesia
According to experts in Fiji, the prejudice of the people in that country towards Indonesia is viewed as both a challenge and an opportunity to develop a more quality and substantive relationship.
The chief editors of media outlets in the Pacific Islands presented the practice of press freedom at the Pacific Media International Conference 2024 in Suva, Fiji on July 5. Image: Image: Laraswati Ariadne Anwar/Kompas
In that international conference, representatives of mainstream media in the Pacific Islands criticised and expressed their dissatisfaction with donors.
The Pacific Islands are one of the most foreign aid-receiving regions in the world. Fiji is among the top five Pacific countries supported by donors.
Based on the Lowy Institute’s records from Australia as of October 31, 2023, there are 82 donor countries in the Pacific with a total contribution value of US$44 billion. Australia is the number one donor, followed by China.
The United States and New Zealand are also major donors. This situation has an impact on geopolitical competition issues in the region.
Indonesia is on the list of 82 countries, although in terms of the amount of funding contributed, it lags behind countries with advanced economies. Indonesia itself does not take the position to compete in terms of the amount of funds disbursed.
Thus, the Indonesian Ambassador to Fiji, Nauru, Kiribati, and Tuvalu, Dupito Simamora, said that Indonesia was present to bring a new colour.
“We are present to focus on community empowerment and exchange of experiences,” he said.
An example is the empowerment of maritime, capture fisheries, coffee farming, and training for immigration officers. This is more sustainable compared to the continuous provision of funds.
Maintaining ‘consistency’ Along with that, efforts to introduce Indonesia continue to be made, including through arts and culture scholarships, Dharmasiswa (a one-year non-degree scholarship programme offered to foreigners), and visits by journalists to Indonesia. This is done so that the participating Fiji community can experience for themselves the value of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika — the official motto of Indonesia, “Unity in diversity”.
The book launching and Pacific Journalism Review celebration event on Pacific media was attended by Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad (second from left) and Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Information and Communication Technology Timothy Masiu (third from left) during the Pacific International Media Conference 2024 in Suva, Fiji, on July 4. Image: USP
Indonesia has also offered itself to Fiji and the Pacific Islands as a “gateway” to Southeast Asia. Fiji has the world’s best-selling mineral water product, Fiji Water. They are indeed targeting expanding their market to Southeast Asia, which has a population of 500 million people.
The Indonesian Embassy in Suva analysed the working pattern of the BIMP-EAGA, or the East ASEAN economic cooperation involving Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines. From there, a model that can be adopted which will be communicated to the MSG and developed according to the needs of the Pacific region.
In the ASEAN High-Level Conference of 2023, Indonesia initiated a development and empowerment cooperation with the South Pacific that was laid out in a memorandum of understanding between ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
At the World Water Forum (WWF) 2024 and the Island States Forum (AIS), the South Pacific region is one of the areas highlighted for cooperation. Climate crisis mitigation is a sector that is being developed, one of which is the cultivation of mangrove plants to prevent coastal erosion.
For Indonesia, cooperation with the Pacific is not just diplomacy. Through ASEAN, Indonesia is pushing for the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). Essentially, the Indo-Pacific region is not an extension of any superpower.
All geopolitical and geo-economic competition in this region must be managed well in order to avoid conflict.
Indigenous perspectives
In the Indo-Pacific region, PIF and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) are important partners for ASEAN. Both are original intergovernmental organisations in the Indo-Pacific, making them vital in promoting a perception of the Indo-Pacific that aligns with the framework and perspective of indigenous populations.
On the other hand, Indonesia’s commitment to the principle of non-alignment was tested. Indonesia, which has a free-active foreign policy policy, emphasises that it is not looking for enemies.
However, can Indonesia guarantee the Pacific Islands that the friendship offered is sincere and will not force them to form camps?
At the same time, the Pacific community is also observing Indonesia’s sincerity in resolving various cases of human rights violations, especially in Papua. An open dialogue on this issue could be evidence of Indonesia’s democratic maturity.
Republished from Kompas in partnership with The University of the South Pacific.
A Southeast Asian envoy has met Myanmar’s junta leader to discuss a peaceful resolution to its problems, a junta controlled newspaper reported on Thursday, but a shadow government opposed to military rule said there could be no solution without its involvement.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been trying to help fellow member Myanmar end bloody turmoil sparked by a 2021 military coup but Myanmar’s junta has largely shunned its efforts..
ASEAN special envoy Alounkeo Kittikhoun met junta chief Min Aung Hliang for talks in the capital, Naypyidaw, on Wednesday. ASEAN Secretary General Dr. Kao Kim Hourn and ASEAN Humanitarian Aid Coordination Center Executive Director Lee Yam Ming took part in the meeting, the Myanma Alin newspaper reported.
The ASEAN envoy and Myanmar’s top general discussed which issues the bloc would assist in, finding a peaceful resolution to the current situation and the possibility of ASEAN-Myanmar cooperation, it said.
Myanmar’s crisis has raised questions about the effectiveness of the 10-member grouping in tackling problems in a region where both China and the United States compete for influence.
ASEAN has drawn up a five-point peace plan aimed at ending the violence and promoting dialogue. The plan includes talks with leaders of all sides, including the imprisoned democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi. But she remains in jail while fighting between junta forces and insurgents opposed to military rule has intensified.
While ASEAN has excluded Myanmar’s leaders from most of its summits some members, including neighbors Thailand and current ASEAN chair Laos, have engaged with the junta. Others, however, have condemned the Myanmar military for the coup and subsequent crackdowns on dissent.
The ASEAN humanitarian center has overseen a Thai aid delivery to Myanmar, raising the possibility of an expanded cross-border humanitarian role for the grouping.
A spokesperson for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, which claims the right to represent the country on an international level, dismissed the latest ASEAN effort as doomed, saying the military would not heed ASEAN’s peace plan.
“If they meet and hold a one-sided talk with the military council, nothing will happen,” said Nay Phone Latt, a representative of the organization’s prime minister’s office. “It is also necessary for ASEAN representatives to meet and discuss with ethnic armed groups, [and] the National Unity Government, which are the main players in Myanmar.”
Envoy Kittikhoun held talks with the NUG’s foreign minister, Zin Mar Aung, following his first visit to Myanmar in January.
Pro-democracy activists loyal to the NUG have formed militias in various parts of the country to fight the military in cooperation with ethnic minority insurgent groups that have been battling for self-determination for decades.
Junta forces have faced setbacks in several places since their opponents launched offensives late last year while the fighting has displaced about 3 million people.
The ASEAN envoy and the junta chief also discussed humanitarian assistance while the military explained its strategy to prepare for promised elections, the newspaper reported.
Political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe told Radio Free Asia it was not clear how much talks brokered by international parties such as ASEAN could really help Myanmar.
“The international assumption is that issues in Myanmar could be resolved through dialogue,” he said. “That’s why it is urging the military council to meet and discuss. But we will have to wait and see how far that would help in practice.”
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
Source: https://nsbt-japan.com/u/admin01/j1ti2fnebdcfad?sf_culture=en On February 27th, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced that it conducted a cyber defense exercise for five Pacific Island countries, including Palau. This is the first time that the Ministry has conducted an exercise for island countries. The exercise is intended to promote the development of cyber personnel to protect […]
On 4 April 2024 the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) announced the call for applications for the 2024 ASEAN Human Rights Advocacy Academy. The Academy is a capacity building platform for youth activists in Southeast Asia to gauge a strong understanding and skills to engage with the ASEAN Human Rights mechanism.
Since 2005, FORUM-ASIA has been actively engaged in the development and strengthening of the ASEAN human rights mechanisms. Against the backdrop of a global shrinking civic-space due to the rise of authoritarianism and a lack of capacities for civil society to meaningfully engage and influence law and policy making spaces, the Academy aims to bolster regional civil society participation and capacity to influence the regional human rights mechanisms to strengthen its human rights protection and promotion mandate.
The Academy will be held in-person for a total of five days (including travel days) in one of the Southeast Asian countries. It will consist of a series of knowledge sharing sessions and skills development workshops and field visits to engage with relevant stakeholders.
Programme:
The Academy, which will take place in the last week of May 2024 in one of the Southeast Asia countries (details will be shared upon announcement of successful application). Participants will be engaged in knowledge sharing and interactive group work involving the ASEAN and UN human rights mechanisms. They will meet with AICHR representatives, diplomatic missions, experts, and relevant regional stakeholders and gain first-hand insights into the workings of ASEAN and its human rights mechanisms.
Eligibility Criteria:
Youths of Southeast Asian nationality within the age of 18-35 who are in their early and mid-level stages of work or activism in human rights, peace and democracy. Those based in Southeast Asia will be prioritized.
All Southeast Asian individuals are eligible to apply regardless of race, ethnicity, color, SOGIESC, religion, disability, etc.
Application from FORUM-ASIA’s Southeast Asia member organizations will be welcomed
Prior knowledge or experience in engaging with regional or international human rights mechanisms is a plus. Those without prior knowledge or experience are also welcome to apply.
Interested applicants must complete this application form by midnight of 18 April 2024 (BKK time). Late applications will not be considered.
For the first time in five years, Southeast Asian grouping ASEAN, collectively, is tilting more towards China than the United States, a new survey by a Singapore think tank has found.
The ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute has been compiling the annual survey report ‘State of Southeast Asia’ since 2020 and every year before, the U.S. was the bloc’s preferred world power.
This year, however, when asked if being forced to align with one of the strategic rivals, which should they choose, 50.5% respondents chose China while 49.5% picked the U.S.
The preferences last year were 38.9% for China and 61.1% for the U.S.
ASEAN consists of ten countries. Seven of them – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand – polled in favor of China with a higher rate than last year. Malaysia and Laos saw the biggest changes – 20.3% and 29.5%, respectively.
The U.S., however, remains the superpower of choice for Singapore (61.5%), Vietnam (79%) and the Philippines (83.3%).
The latter two, especially Manila, have seen Beijing’s increased aggression in the South China Sea, where there are conflicting claims by different countries but China’s claim is by far the most expansive.
Hanoi has just upgraded its relationship with Washington to the highest level of comprehensive strategic partnership, reflecting a new mutual trust and cooperation.
Decreased U.S. engagement
The survey said the U.S. maintains its status as the region’s advocate for maintaining a rules-based order and upholding international law.
However, when asked about the U.S.’s policy towards Southeast Asia, 38.2% said that the level of U.S. engagement with Southeast Asia has decreased under the administration of President Joe Biden, with 25.2% saying it has increased.
Only 34.9% of regional respondents say the U.S. is a reliable security partner, a big drop from 47.2% last year.
Meanwhile, the majority of regional respondents “still maintain a sense of unease and worry” about China’s economic and political and strategic influence, according to Sharon Seah, the lead author of the survey.
“Perceptions of China as the most influential economic power in Southeast Asia remain high with 59.5% of regional respondents sharing this view,” the survey found.
China, thanks to its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, has increased economic and political engagement in Southeast Asian countries.
That led to a majority of respondents worried about China’s growing regional economic influence in the region (67.4%). Only 32.6% said they welcomed China’s strengthened foothold in their economies.
ASEAN leaders hold hands for a family photo before the start of the ASEAN-China Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, September 6, 2023. (Reuters)
“Perhaps the tide of sentiment has shifted toward China as the more consequential relationship for the region,” Seah wrote in the Yusof Ishak Institute’s site Fulcrum.
“But it remains to be seen whether the recent trend of diminishing regard for the U.S.’s strategic partnership will mark a sea change in regional geopolitics.”
The survey was conducted by the institute’s ASEAN Studies Centre between January and February this year, with 1,994 people taking part.
Singapore has the highest number of respondents (273 or 13.7%), followed by Indonesia (265 or 13.3%) and Malaysia (225 or 11.3%).
A 10% weighting average was applied to each country’s responses to calculate the average figures for ASEAN as a whole.
The largest affiliation group of respondents is from the private sector (33.7%), followed by government (24.5%), and academia, think-tanks or research institutions (23.6%).
Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.:
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.
Canberra will invest $64 million Australian dollars (US$41.8 million) over the next four years, including A$40 million in new funding, to expand maritime cooperation with Southeast Asia, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Monday.
Wong made the pledge at a forum on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit 2024 in Melbourne, which will celebrate 50 years of partnership between Australia and the regional bloc.
The summit is being held against a backdrop of increasingly assertive posturing by China in the South China Sea and the intensifying civil war in Myanmar, both of which are likely to be high on the agenda.
Wong said the new funds for maritime cooperation would contribute to security and prosperity within the region.
“What happens in the South China Sea, in the Taiwan Strait, in the Mekong subregion, across the Indo-Pacific, affects us all,” she said in her keynote address Monday.
She said the “region’s character” was under challenge and that no country must dominate.
“We face destabilizing, provocative and coercive actions, including unsafe conduct at sea and in the air and militarisation of disputed features,” Wong said, without singling out a specific nation.
China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade passes each year, putting it at odds with the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, and Taiwan.
In 2016, an international tribunal refuted the legal basis for nearly all of China’s expansive maritime and territorial claims in the waterway. It said that Beijing’s insistence on holding “historic rights” to the waters were inconsistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.
Beijing has never recognized the 2016 arbitration or its outcome.
Speaking at the same forum, Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo said the rule of law and especially UNCLOS was the fundamental starting point for maritime cooperation in the region.
“The shared stewardship of the seas and oceans in the region behooves us to unite in preserving the primacy of international law so we can ensure equitable and sustainable outcomes for all,” he said.
“It also calls for us to stand firmly together in opposing actions that contradict or are inconsistent with international law.”
The Philippines under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has taken a stronger stance in dealing with Beijing on the South China Sea.
Marcos has also pursued warmer ties with the United States, a traditional ally, reversing the policies of his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte.
In recent months, tensions between Manila and Beijing have led to numerous run-ins, including the China Coast Guard’s alleged harassment of Filipino vessels delivering provisions to troops at its military outpost on Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the South China Sea.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Harry Pearl for BenarNews.
Transparency International says the latest Corruption Perception Index shows another year of “little to no meaningful progress” towards curbing corruption in the Asia-Pacific region.
Transparency International has released its 2023 report, based on a points system, and Denmark, Finland and New Zealand top the list.
Other than New Zealand and Australia, Fiji is the highest-ranked Pacific country, coming in 53rd.
Vanuatu is 61st (48 points) and Solomon Islands 70th (43 points).
Then it is a drop to Papua New Guinea in 133rd with 29 points.
Transparency International said the Asia-Pacific region showed long-term stagnation, although some countries historically at the top were backsliding.
‘Steady influx of . . . incentives’
“While there’s a steady influx of economic, military or financial incentives to support development and climate goals, many Pacific countries have weak governance systems — which some donors overlook, exposing these substantial investments to high risk of corruption,” the organisation reported.
Transparency International said a 2020 survey in Asia showed that nearly one in seven people had been offered bribes in exchange for votes in a national, regional or local election in the past five years.
Meanwhile, in the Pacific region in 2021, approximately a quarter of respondents reported being offered a bribe for their votes.
“These findings show the serious implications for the ability of elections to bring in governments that can be trusted to control and curb corruption effectively.”
But the organisation said at the regional level, Pacific leaders continued to demonstrate some commitment to the fight against corruption, with the gradual implementation of the Teieniwa Vision — a set of collective anti-corruption priorities.
These were endorsed by the Pacific Islands Forum leaders in 2021.
“Progress has been slow and there has been limited involvement of regional civil society organisations around this initiative.
“ASEAN leaders should also continue to find common mechanisms to review their anti-corruption commitments under the ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint 2025, a ten-year plan aimed at instilling a culture of integrity and anti-corruption in the region.”
They should also continue strengthening their national and regional anti-corruption frameworks, and increasing joint efforts to address grand corruption, Transparency International said.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Myanmar’s military kept up its campaign of airstrikes even during the controversial ASEAN Air Chiefs conference, to which four countries decided not to send a representative. There were 20 air attacks during the three-day event, locals and ethnic armed groups told Radio Free Asia on Monday.
The conference took place from Sept. 13-15 led by junta Air Force chief Gen. Tun Aung. Air Force chiefs from Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand attended, while Singapore and the Philippines sent video messages. Malaysia and Indonesia boycotted the event.
Meanwhile the junta’s brutal air campaign continued with airstrikes on Sagaing region’s Indaw, Pale and Ayadaw townships. The air force also attacked Mogoke township in Mandalay region and Kyaukkyi township in eastern Bago region.
In Indaw, junta planes attacked a monastery in Kha Yan Sat Kone village on Friday, following up with a heavy artillery bombardment.
The 77-year-old abbot Rajinda and 42-year-old laybrother Win Thein died in the attack, according to a local who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals.
“The monastery was bombed by an airplane,” the local said.
“Seconds later, the junta fired a Howitzer at the same monastery killing the abbot …That’s why the whole village had to sleep outside the village on the night of September 15.
“Now they have returned to the village as they have to cremate the abbot. The abbot’s head was split and the civilian was hit in the chest,” said the man, adding that there had been no fighting in the area before the attack.
Three junta helicopters carried out 13 airstrikes on villages in Bago region’s Kyaukkyi township, according to a Karen National Union statement Friday.
More than 5,000 residents from six villages were forced to flee to escape the bombardement, the statement said.
A local resident, who didn’t want to be named for security reasons, told RFA that people are still unwilling to return to their homes because they are afraid of more airstrikes. They are staying in nearby villages and the forest.
On Friday night, a jet fighter fired on a village in Mandalay region’s Mogoke township for 15 minutes, residents told RFA Burmese.
They said the junta launched the attack following a battle with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army.
A spokesperson for the ethnic armed group, Lt. Col. Mong Aik Kyaw, said the junta has stepped up its air campaign recently.
“We have seen more airstrikes from their side,” he said.
“Now they are attacking civilian targets. Last month, a jet fighter came and attacked Taung Gyaw hill where there was no fighting.”
He added that since July 23, there have been more than 40 clashes between the junta army and the TNLA.
Calls to junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun went unanswered.
The Air Force chiefs who attended the ASEAN conference in Naypyitaw discussed regional security and cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw spokesperson Sithu Maung said all ASEAN members should have boycotted the conference.
“Airstrikes targeting civilians, not military targets are war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said the representative of the committee which is made up of members of the National League for Democracy and other lawmakers ousted in the February 2021 coup.
“If they attended the conference knowing of this situation it would encourage violence.”
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has backtracked on his comments that PNG had “no right to comment” on human rights abuses in West Papua and has offered a clarification to “clear misconceptions and apprehension”.
Last week, Marape met Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the sidelines of the 43rd ASEAN summit in Jakarta.
According to a statement released by Marape’s office, he revealed that he “abstained” from supporting the West Papuan bid to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders’ Summit held in Port Vila, Vanuatu, last month because the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) “does not meet the requirements of a fully-fledged sovereign nation”.
However, on Saturday, his office again released a statement, saying that the statement released two days earlier had been “released without consent” and that it “wrongfully” said that he had abstained on the West Papua issue.
“Papua New Guinea never abstained from West Papua matters at the MSG meeting,” he said.
He said PNG “offered solutions that affirmed Indonesian sovereignty over her territories”, adding that “at the same time [PNG] supported the collective MSG position to back the Pacific Islands Forum Resolution of 2019 on United Nations to assess if there are human right abuses in West Papua and Papua provinces of Indonesia.”
Marape said PNG stressed to President Widodo its respect for Indonesian sovereignty and their territorial rights.
Collective Melanesian, Pacific resolutions
“But on matters of human rights, I pointed out the collective Melanesian and Pacific resolutions for the United Nations to be allowed to ascertain [human rights] allegations.”
According to Marape the four MSG leaders have agreed to visit the Indonesian President “at his convenience to discuss this matter”.
The original James Marape “no right” report published by RNZ Pacific last Friday. Image: RN Pacific screenshot APR
“President Widodo responded that the MSG leaders are welcome to meet him and invited them to an October meeting subject on the availability of all leaders. He assured me that all is okay in the two Papuan provinces and invited other PNG leaders to visit these provinces.”
Since 30 June 2022, the region has been split into the following provinces – Papua (including the capital city of Jayapura), Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua and West Papua.
Marape has also said that his deputy John Rosso was also expected to lead a delegation to West Papua to “look into matters in respect to human rights”.
Meanwhile, he believes the presence of Indonesia on MSG as an associate member and ULMWP as observer at the MSG “is sufficient for the moment”.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Facilitating cross-border data flows and supporting interoperability of digital technology between Australia and Southeast Asian nations is a key focus of the Albanese government’s new economic strategy, which calls for ambitious digital trade rules to be pursued across the region. E-commerce represents the biggest share of digital trade between Australia and Southeast Asia (SEA), with…
Defense & Security 2023 – ASEAN is the Leading Tri-Service defense and internal security exhibition, conference, and networking event. The show will be held from 6-9 November 2023 at IMPACT Exhibition Centre, Bangkok, Thailand. This year’s show will be offered under the concept of ‘The Power of Partnership’. All the programs and activities during the show days have been […]
Washington on Friday again urged countries to push Myanmar on a peace plan that has failed so far, although the regional bloc is divided over how to handle the Burmese crisis.
Countries must persuade the Burmese military to follow through on the five-point plan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as he met with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other countries in Jakarta on Friday.
“In Myanmar, we must press the military regime to stop the violence, to implement ASEAN’s five-point consensus, to support a return to democratic governance,” Blinken said in a speech during a meeting with ASEAN ministers.
The bloc, of which Myanmar is a member, has sought to mediate a resolution to the situation in that country, where the military toppled an elected government in February 2021 and threw civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in prison. Nearly 3,800 people have been killed in post-coup violence, mostly by junta security forces.
On Thursday, ASEAN issued a joint statement of its foreign ministers, but that was delayed by a day following a meeting of the region’s top diplomats Tuesday and Wednesday. Reports said the delay arose because they could not agree on what their joint statement would say about Myanmar.
The statement reflected the dissonance.
Thailand had last month held another meeting with Myanmar’s junta-appointed foreign minister, representatives of ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and India and China. The Burmese and Thai militaries are said to be close, and the outgoing Thai PM is a former army chief.
ASEAN 2023 chair Indonesia did not take kindly to that meeting, which it skipped along with Singapore and Malaysia.
And yet, the joint statement acknowledged that meeting, noting that “a number of ASEAN member states” viewed it “as a positive development.”
The statement went on to note, however, that efforts to solve the Myanmar crisis must support the five-point consensus and efforts by ASEAN chair Indonesia.
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai defended the meeting, saying it was in line with an earlier ASEAN document that called for exploring other approaches for resolving the crisis.
In another shocker for the rest of ASEAN, and indeed, everyone else, the Thai foreign minister announced on Wednesday that he had met secretly over the weekend with Myanmar’s imprisoned civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. The Thai foreign ministry said that she and the junta had approved the meeting with Don.
And not everyone is on board with the five-point consensus either, although they present a unified front, reports say.
The previous foreign minister of Malaysia, Saifuddin Abdullah, was an exception. He had said last July that it was time to junk the peace plan and devise a new one on a deadline that included enforcement mechanisms.
ASEAN operates by consensus, which means any action it takes has to be approved by every member state. Divisions within the bloc have meant that not every member has approved of tougher action against Myanmar.
Therefore, other than shutting out the Burmese junta from all high-level ASEAN meetings for reneging on the consensus, little else has happened since February 2021.
Hunter Marston, a Southeast Asia researcher at the Australian National University, said the ASEAN top diplomats’ joint statement was largely in line with his expectations.
He would have liked to see “ASEAN invite the NUG as a way of imposing costs on the junta, but that won’t receive consensus,” Marston told BenarNews, referring to the National Unity Government, which is the shadow civilian administration.
He would have also liked to see “see a clearer acknowledgement of ASEAN’s frustration with the military junta.”
And the statement “still left room for Thailand’s rogue … diplomacy,” Marston said.
Another analyst, Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, said he had expected a little better from the joint statement.
“[N]ow I only hope that ASEAN does not accept back the junta without accountability,” he told BenarNews.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Tria Dianti for BenarNews.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Jakarta and met with Wang Yi, China’s leading diplomat, amid allegations of a Chinesecyberespionage attack targeting U.S. government emails.
The conversation between the two top diplomats on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers’ Meeting “was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open channels of communication to clarify U.S. interests across a wide range of issues and to responsibly manage competition by reducing the risk of misperception and miscalculation,” said State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller.
Blinken made clear to Wang in Jakarta that any action that targets the U.S. government, U.S. companies or American citizens “is of deep concern to us, and that we will take appropriate action to hold those responsible accountable,” according to a senior State Department official.
The intrusion by Chinese hackers into email accounts at the State Department and other agencies – including that of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo – is believed to have begun in May and been discovered just before Blinken visited Beijing in June.
Diplomats who attended the closed-door 90-minute exchangedescribed the talks as more focused than the ones in Beijing, with both sides zeroing in on areas of interest.
On Blinken’s part, one key focus was fentanyl, a sometimes deadly painkiller behind what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls an “opioid overdose epidemic.” In Beijing and again in Jakarta on Thursday Blinken pushed hard for China to crack down on the manufacture of “precursor chemicals” essential for making the drug.
According to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang reiterated China’s claims on Taiwan, called on Washington to cancel “unreasonable and illegal sanctions” against China and said the U.S. should “cease suppressing China’s economy and technology.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (second right), and Chinese Communist Party’s foreign policy chief Wang Yi, (second left), attend their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, July 13, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, Pool
Beijing suspended most formal lines of communication with the U.S. last August over a visit to Taiwan by then House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Further communications were cut off when the U.S. shot down a suspected spy balloon earlier this year.
The latest meeting came just hours after Xie Feng, China’s new ambassador to the U.S., held rare talks with a top U.S. defense official for Asia.
Ely Ratner, U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, stressed the importance of keeping lines of communication open with China.
Earlier in the month, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited China, and climate envoy John F. Kerry is scheduled to visit from Sunday, with Beijing saying it is also open to a visit by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Looming restrictions
U.S. diplomatic missions and reach-out to China may be undermined, however, as Washington pushes ahead with new restrictions on U.S. investments in Chinese companies involved in quantum computing, artificial intelligence and semiconductors, reported The New York Times.
The new restrictions were a key focus of discussion between Yellen and senior Chinese officials during her four days in Beijing, which concluded last Sunday.
During her visit to Beijing, Yellen repeatedly highlighted the fact that the restrictions were limited to several highly strategic sectors that affect U.S. state security and should not be interpreted as a blockade that sought to hold China’s development back.
It’s a line China is clearly not buying and the tensions between the two superpowers were further highlighted by China’s official responses to U.S. hacking allegations.
The Microsoft-hosted U.S. government email servers that were breached by a Chinese hacking group were detected and fixed “fairly rapidly,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Wednesday, despite Microsoft saying that the breach was only discovered a month after it happened.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin speaks during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Friday, June 16, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Liu Zheng
When questioned on Thursday regarding the allegations of the hack, China’s Foreign Ministry urged the U.S. to “account for its cyberattacks as soon as possible rather than spread false information and divert attention.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin used his press briefing on Wednesday to accuse the U.S. government of overseeing “the world’s No. 1 hacking group” – the National Security Agency – but otherwise did not comment on the claims about the hack, known as Storm-0558.
Shaky ground
China is seeking to engage ASEAN’s 10 members, predominantly through trade, in a strategic push to undermine U.S. influence in the region and challenge the existing American-led world order.
However, China’s claim to almost all of the South China Sea limits its influence. Several ASEAN members, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines, have overlapping claims and have welcomed the U.S. military’s presence in the region. China regards U.S. involvement as foreign interference.
Blinken continued to engage with ASEAN nations in a series of meetings on Friday.
Washington aims to work with Southeast Asian nations to “push back” against an “upward trend” in Beijing’s “unhelpful, coercive and irresponsible” actions in the South China Sea, a senior U.S. State Department official said last week, ahead of Blinken’s visit.
“It’s not a matter of getting countries on board with the US view,” said Daniel Kritenbrink, the US assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs. “It’s a matter of working with our ASEAN partners to advance our shared view and vision for the region.”
This would require pushing “back on behavior that runs counter to that vision and to those principles, including the many irresponsible acts that we’ve seen carried out by China over the last several years and in the last several weeks,” he said.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Chris Taylor for RFA.
China and Southeast Asian nations agreed Thursday to speed up an agreement to prevent conflict in the South China Sea where overlapping claims by Beijing and its neighbors have raised tensions.
The guidelines to accelerate negotiations on a code of conduct for the South China Sea represent a “milestone,” the Indonesian foreign minister said after diplomats from both sides adopted them at a meeting in Jakarta.
No details were released, although the Associated Press news agency cited an unnamed Southeast Asian diplomat as saying that both sides agreed to conclude a pact before autumn 2026.
The Jakarta meeting was attended by all foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) barring Myanmar, and Wang Yi, who heads the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s foreign affairs commission, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said.
Indonesia’s top diplomat, Retno Marsudi, who co-chaired the meeting with Wang, said the agreement showed their commitment to maintaining peace and stability in the region.
“These achievements should continue to build a positive momentum to strengthen a partnership that advances the paradigm of inclusivity and openness, respects international law including UNCLOS 1982, and promotes a culture of dialogue and collaboration,” Retno said in a statement, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Retno also welcomed the completion of the second reading of the draft code of conduct this year, after the completion of the first reading in 2019.
China “should be a trusted partner of ASEAN” in nurturing an open and inclusive regional architecture, she said.
“Only in this way can we achieve win-win cooperation for the sake of peace, stability, and shared prosperity in the Indo-Pacific,” Retno added.
Wang, meanwhile, said Beijing supported ASEAN’s central role in the region, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.
China stands ready to continue to play a constructive role in its early conclusion, Xinhua quoted Wang as saying.
China and ASEAN have been negotiating a code of conduct for the South China Sea since 2002, but progress has been slow amid disputes over the scope and legal status of the document.
An aerial view shows the Nanshan Islands, locally known as Lawak, one of the nine features the Philippines occupies in the disputed Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea, March 9, 2023. (Eloisa Lopez/Reuters)
China claims almost all of the strategic waterway, which is also contested by Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. And stability in Southeast Asia has been threatened lately with alleged incursions by Chinese vessels in the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines and Malaysia in the South China Sea.
Indonesia does not have any territorial disputes with China, but it has repeatedly lodged protests against Chinese fishing boats and coast guard vessels entering its EEZ near the Natuna Islands.
In 2016, the Philippines won a landmark international ruling at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which threw out China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. Beijing, however, has ignored the verdict and carried on with its military expansionism in the strategic waterway, including building artificial islands.
The South China Sea has also become a theater for big-power rivalry, as the United States, which has vital interests in the region, has accused China of militarizing the area and undermining freedom of navigation.
For its part, Beijing calls Washington’s moves in the region interference and insists it has historical rights to the sea’s resources.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to meet with his ASEAN counterparts at a conference in Jakarta on Friday.
‘Potential positive impact’
The guidelines agreed to by ASEAN members and China could be in the nature of technical agreements on how the preventive principles in the code can be implemented, said Vinsensio Dugis, the head of the ASEAN Studies Center at Airlangga University in Surabaya.
“If this is the case, this should be welcomed, because it reflects the intention of the parties that claim part or all of the South China Sea territory to reach an agreement on the implementation of the code of conduct,” he told BenarNews.
Additionally, one of the sticking points in the negotiation revolved around the involvement of countries outside China and ASEAN in the implementation of the code of conduct, Vinsensio said.
“China does not want any involvement of other countries, while some ASEAN countries see the need for countries such as the U.S. to also be involved in the process. I think this has been a major obstacle to implementing the principles in the code of conduct,” he said.
Still, the agreement between ASEAN and China brings potential positive impact to Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.
“This means that there is a possibility of stability in the region, which is very important for peace and development,” he said.
On trade, China has been an important partner for ASEAN in promoting economic growth and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia’s Retno said.
Their bilateral trade reached U.S. $975 billion last year, making China ASEAN’s largest trading partner, while China was also the fourth largest source of foreign investment in ASEAN with $13.8 billion, Retno said.
A day earlier, China’s Wang urged ASEAN to speed up negotiations on an upgraded free trade agreement that would boost economic ties and post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery.
“China and ASEAN should jointly safeguard the global free trading system, uphold the ASEAN centrality, and jointly maintain regional peace and development,” Wang said after talks with Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Wednesday.
China and ASEAN have been operating a free trade area since 2010, which covers trade in goods, services and investment. It is the largest free trade area in terms of population and third largest in terms of nominal GDP.
The two sides launched negotiations on an upgraded version of the free trade agreement in 2016, aiming to further liberalize and facilitate trade and investment.
Wang said both sides should speed up the talks on the so-called FTA 3.0 to “inject new impetus into regional development.”
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Tria Dianti for BenarNews.
ASEAN chair Indonesia said Friday it was increasing efforts to implement a five-point consensus to end instability in post-coup Myanmar, while Burmese civil society groups called for junking the “ineffective” plan amid divisions within the regional bloc.
The crisis in Myanmar is expected to be one of the main topics at a series of ministerial-level meetings that Indonesia will host next week as the 2023 chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The talks will involve ASEAN members and other countries, including the United States, China and Russia.
Jakarta has been communicating with all parties in Myanmar to persuade them to support implementing the consensus, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.
“We have conducted 110 engagements, in the form of in-person meetings, virtual meetings, and phone calls, including my own face-to-face meetings with both the NUG and SAC foreign ministers on several occasions,” Retno told reporters, referring to the National Unity Government, the shadow civilian administration, and the junta, which calls itself the State Administration Council.
ASEAN leaders agreed on the consensus during an emergency summit in April 2021, but the Southeast Asian bloc has since been heavily criticized for inaction in pressing ahead with the five-point plan.
It aims to reduce violence in Myanmar after the Burmese military toppled an elected government in February that year. The plan demands an immediate halt to violence, a constructive dialogue among all parties, the appointment of a special envoy, the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the visit of a delegation to Myanmar.
The junta agreed to this consensus but reneged on it, prompting ASEAN to exclude any representative from the Myanmar junta from its meetings, starting in October 2021.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi speaks during a news conference in Jakarta, July 7, 2023. (Achmad Ibrahim/AP)
‘Most ASEAN states have no interest in democracy’
Meanwhile, a network of Burmese civil society groups, which calls itself Myanmar Spring’s young revolutionaries, said the exclusion was a mirage, because Indonesia, through its office of the special envoy, was engaging with the junta.
“[T]he Special Envoy’s official engagement with the illegal military junta is inconsistent with ASEAN’s decision and stance to exclude and ban members of the military junta from all high-level ASEAN meetings,” representatives of several civil society groups told Ngurah Swajaya, the head of the special envoy’s office, according to a statement issued Friday.
The groups’ representatives had met with Ngurah on Monday.
“[T]he representatives expressed their concern and frustration over the ineffectiveness and failure of ASEAN to stop the terrorist military junta’s violence and atrocities against Myanmar people over the past two years since the adoption of the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) on 24 April 2021,” the statement said.
They also conveyed to Ngurah that “the ineffective 5PC will only embolden the terrorist junta to commit further crimes and exacerbate the plight of the people of Myanmar.”
Indonesia’s president, too, acknowledged in May that there had been no progress in implementing the peace plan.
All along, Myanmar’s junta has cracked down on mass protests, killed more than 3,000 people and arrested thousands more, according to human rights groups. The United Nations said more than 1.8 million people had been forced to flee their homes in Myanmar because of violence since the coup.
And yet, ASEAN “continues to stick to a plan agreed in April 2021 that has palpably failed,” said CIVICUS Lens, a group that analyzes current events from a civil society perspective.
“A major challenge is that most ASEAN states have no interest in democracy. Half of them are outright authoritarian regimes, and the other half could be characterized as democracies with flaws – sometimes serious flaws,” the group wrote in an article in late June.
“Continuing emphasis on the 5PC as the baseline consensus, however, hasn’t masked divisions among ASEAN states. …But the fact that they’re formally sticking with it enables the wider international community to stand back and do little, on the basis of respecting regional leadership and giving the 5PC a chance.”
Of ASEAN’s 10 members, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam are not democracies, and Thailand’s outgoing government first came to power much like the current Myanmar junta, via a military coup.
CIVICUS Lens also noted Thailand’s decision to break ranks with ASEAN and engage in talks with the Myanmar military.
Indonesia on Friday again dismissed the Thai meeting in June as not a formal one.
“Regarding the informal meeting in Thailand, once again it was an informal meeting of ASEAN and only the foreign minister of Laos attended. The 5PC is the main track for resolving the Myanmar issue,” Foreign Minister Retno said.
However, in addition to Thailand and Myanmar, representatives of ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines – as well as India and China – attended the meeting in Pattaya.
Some experts say that ASEAN’s approach to Myanmar reflects its limitations as a consensus-based organization that prioritizes stability and non-interference in its members’ domestic affairs.
Additionally, while Jakarta should be praised for holding so many meetings with different stakeholders, it was impossible to assess the progress of its diplomatic engagements as they were confidential, said Hunter Marston, a researcher at the Australian National University.
“It’s also possible that the Indonesian government has underestimated the degree to which the current conflict is entrenched and the unwillingness of the warring sides to consider a peaceful settlement that does not include the complete eradication of the other side,” he told BenarNews.
He said that the outcome of Indonesia’s efforts remained uncertain.
“If nothing materializes by the end of Indonesia’s chairmanship, however, then everyone will point and say, ‘See? There was never a chance of progress to begin with’,” he said.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Tria Dianti for BenarNews.
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