Eric's Insight: Respect the ASEAN Way in dealing with regional differences

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat (AMM) was convened on February 16-17 in Phnom Penh under Cambodia’s chairmanship this year, with the theme of addressing challenges together.

The AMM Retreat is attended in person by foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Laos, and online by foreign ministers of Brunei, Thailand and Vietnam. (Photo by Sovannara/Xinhua)

So what are the on-going security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region? The recurring COVID variants, the Myanmar social unrest and the US military alliances under its Indo-Pacific strategy against China are the obvious ones.

“We reiterated our commitment to preserve the Southeast Asian region as a Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone and free of all other weapons of mass destruction, as enshrined in the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ Treaty) and the ASEAN Charter,” read both statements of the meeting.

This item is actually a reminder of the AUKUS alliance statement in September 2021, when the United States and the United Kingdom said they "commit to a shared ambition to support Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy.”

The ASEAN retreat was followed by a special statement on disarmament and nonproliferation and a regular press statement by the chairman, with the latter also stressing access to safe, effective and quality vaccines via an ASEAN fund.

“We encouraged the full and efficient use of the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund to procure more vaccines, medical supplies and therapeutics for the people of ASEAN, as well as to support research and development, and capability and capacity building,” said the press statement of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat.

Short before the retreat, the ASEAN chair Cambodia issued another statement on the Myanmar situation on February 2, saying the ASEAN states remained deeply concerned with continued violence and humanitarian deterioration in the country, a member of the regional block.

As a close neighbor of ASEAN, Myanmar in particular, China is also concerned with the social unrest in the ASEAN nation since this is by no means in the interest of China. Sharing a 2000-kilometer boundary section with Myanmar, China would be happier than anyone else to see people in Myanmar enjoy a peaceful and prosperous life.

It’s encouraging that ASEAN leaders reached the five-point consensus in April last year for the Myanmar crisis, and Cambodian foreign minister Prak Sokhonn has been recently assigned as a special ASEAN envoy to facilitate dialogue.

However, certain player outside the region is planning to add fuel to the flame. “The United States will continue to stand up for democracy in Burma, working closely with allies and partners to press the Burmese military to provide for a return to democracy,” said the new US Indo-Pacific strategy on February 11.

Calling the country “Burma” instead of “Myanmar”, the now global hegemon seems yet to have woken up from the colonial era when the British Empire occupied the ASEAN country as well as many of the neighboring nations. Under the guise of democracy, the US seeks to stir more trouble in Myanmar, as has been shown in the cases of Syria, Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and more.

Now the US takes the Myanmar crisis as an opportunity to build up its "democratic alliance" against China, and that’s why Biden is in a hurry to see progress in implementing the 5-point consensus and invite the ASEAN leaders to Washington for a special summit in a coming month.

In a January 28 article entitled “How the US could counter China in Myanmar”, Lucas Myers, program coordinator for Southeast Asia at the Wilson Center, said restoring democracy to Myanmar and countering China should be a priority for Washington.

Therefore, it’s time to really respect the ASEAN Way in dealing with regional differences with patience and uphold the ASEAN Centrality to resolve the current difficulties in Myanmar, so that the group can play its due role in regional peace. 

(The writer Eric Wang Shixue is an English editor with the Mekong Magazine based in Kunming, Yunnan province. The view in the article does not necessarily represent that of Yunnan Gateway.)