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Sosok.ID – Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh led a video meeting with ASEAN Foreign Ministers in Hanoi on Wednesday (9/9/2020).
Each year, 10 ASEAN countries bring together the major powers with interests in Southeast Asia, providing the stage for diplomatic competition and geopolitical dynamics.
The same is the case this year. Despite the fact that Vietnam, as the head of the bloc, must hold the four-day meeting virtually as a result of the covid-19 pandemic which is still spreading at the moment.
Among the most contentious issues on the agenda is the South China Sea dispute, which has become a flash point for escalating tensions between the United States and China in the region.
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According to the Jakarta Post, on Saturday (December 9), tensions in the South China Sea have escalated, and last month the United States sanctioned 24 Chinese-owned companies accused of assisting in Beijing’s military construction in the South China Sea. of South China.
This year’s ASEAN ministerial meeting also comes days after Beijing launched a ballistic missile over the resource-rich waterway as part of a live-fire exercise.
However, Indonesia and ASEAN in general continue to call for restraint from all parties so as not to complicate an already tense situation.
In a speech delivered Wednesday at the Tenth Meeting of Foreign Ministers (EAS) of the East Asia Summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said recent activities by the United States Navy disrupted the consultations between your country and ASEAN members to resolve your dispute.
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At the ASEAN-US Ministerial Meeting. On Thursday (10/9), US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought the support of his ASEAN colleagues.
He urged them to oppose China’s maritime expansion into waters and reconsider their business relationship with Chinese state-owned companies “who intimidate the ASEAN coastal states in the South China Sea.”
China claims territory in the South China Sea even though it is far from its coast.
But an international court ruled in 2016 in favor of the Philippines and dismissed the claims of the sweep of China, which are disputed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
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China has rejected the decision and continues to build and militarize artificial islands as part of its claims to the region, raising anxiety among Southeast Asian countries and giving the United States reasons to fight.
In a joint statement issued Thursday night, the day after the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, ASEAN ministers discussed the South China Sea dispute and reiterated the importance of maintaining peace, safety, stability, security and freedom of navigation.
The wording of the two paragraphs dealing with the dispute remains the same as the previous year, but the ministers report on the progress of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea negotiations.
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Its objective is to harmonize the resulting documents with international legal practice, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“We further reaffirm the need to seek the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS,” said para.
ministers in joint communication.
The joint communiqué is a document that contains the attitude of the joint ASEAN negotiations on various issues of regional interest.
The ministers also reiterated the importance of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) as the main code of ethics in regulating relations between the countries of the region and a basis for the maintenance of regional peace and stability. .
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“We are committed to further promoting the principles contained in the TAC and emphasizing the great importance of all contracting parties in fulfilling their obligations under the Agreement,” they said.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has repeatedly emphasized the importance of respecting the principles contained in the TAC and the Declaration of the Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN), beginning with the EAS meeting and the subsequent ASEAN post-ministerial conference.
The TAC is a peace treaty that is legally binding on its signatories to promote regional peace and stability among ASEAN member countries and other dialogue partners.
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It was signed by the leaders of the original member states in 1976, and was followed by later members.
Other countries began signing the agreement, a condition for entering into a dialogue partnership with ASEAN, in 2003, with China and India being the first countries to do so.
The United States signed it in 2009.
ZOPFAN is a Cold War-era ASEAN document signed by the original five members of the association – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand – in 1971.
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Nations that later joined regional organizations automatically accepted the deal.
He tried, with belated success, to eliminate US and Soviet military bases from the region.
On Thursday, at the ASEAN-US meeting. Retno said that he presented these two decades of ASEAN documents to point out that the bloc was founded in the name of peace, stability and prosperity.
“TAC is not only related to ASEAN, but also to its speaking partners, including the United States.”
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“Indonesia hopes that the cooperation between ASEAN and the United States can continue and become a true partner for peace and stability,” he told reporters after the meeting.
Retno spoke publicly on the issue during the ASEAN-Australia meeting that day, where he called on Australia to join ASEAN member countries in pulling the region out of the “scene of geopolitical competition.”
“I also want to show that Australia passed the TAC in 2005, on which there is a principle of resistance to threats and the use of force, a commitment to solve problems peacefully and continue to prioritize cooperation,” he told reporters .
“These principles are expected to continue to apply amid the current geopolitical challenges,” he said.
