ASEAN doesn’t recognise Myanmar’s elections, which military-backed social gathering claims to have received | USAEMALL.com

The Philippines holds ASEAN’s rotating chair this year, taking what would have been Myanmar’s turn after the country was suspended from chairing the meeting after the military’s seizure of power.

Founded in 1967 in the Cold War era, ASEAN has an unwieldy membership of diverse countries that range from vibrant democracies like the Philippines, a longtime treaty ally of Washington, to authoritarian states like Laos and Cambodia, which are close to Beijing.

The regional bloc adopted the theme “Navigating our future, Together” this year but that effort to project unity faced its latest setback last year when deadly fighting erupted between two members, Thailand and Cambodia, over a longtime border conflict.

Aside from the Myanmar crisis and the deadly fighting that embroiled Thailand and Cambodia before both forged a US-backed ceasefire last year, the ministers also agreed to hold monthly meetings with China in an effort to conclude negotiations this year on a so-called “code of conduct” to manage disputes over long-unresolved territorial rifts in the South China Sea, Lazaro said.

Under growing pressure to conclude the talks on the nonaggression accord, the ministers announced the self-imposed deadline three years ago.

China has expansive claims in the waterway, a key global trade route, that overlap with those of four ASEAN members, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.

Lazaro opened the meetings by calling on the regional bloc to steadfastly maintain restraint and adhere to international law as acts of aggression across Asia and “unilateral actions” elsewhere in the world threaten the rules-based global order.

Several ASEAN members have expressed deep concern over the secretive US strike that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on orders from US President Donald Trump. China’s intensifying aggressive stance on Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea have also troubled the region for years.

Calling out the US and China, among the largest trading and defence partners of ASEAN countries, have been a dilemma and a diplomatic tightrope.

“Across our region, we continue to see tensions at sea, protracted internal conflicts and unresolved border and humanitarian concerns,” Lazaro said in her opening speech before ASEAN counterparts.

“At the same time, developments beyond Southeast Asia, including unilateral actions that carry cross-regional implications, continue to affect regional stability and erode multilateral institutions and the rules- based international order,” Lazaro said.