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The disputed South China Sea, the COVID-19 pandemic and a major trade deal are likely to dominate discussions.
Southeast Asian leaders kicked off a multilateral summit on Thursday that is expected to address tensions in the South China Sea and address plans for a post-pandemic economic recovery in a region where the rivalry between the United States and China has gone on. increase.
So far, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has not been “drawn into the maelstrom” of such rivalries and challenges to the international multilateral system, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in his opening address at the 37th ASEAN Summit in Hanoi: which took place virtually.
“Three-quarters of a century have passed since the end of World War II. However, world peace and security are not really sustainable yet, ”said Phuc, whose government holds the presidency of the 10-member bloc this year.
“This year, they are particularly under increased threat as a result of aggravated risks arising from unpredictable behavior by states, major power rivalries and frictions,” said Phuc.
Vietnam, which has successfully kept the coronavirus in check, held an opening ceremony with traditionally dressed artists to represent ASEAN member states. [Kham/Reuters]
On the summit’s agenda will be tensions in the South China Sea, where Chinese ships have been embroiled in periodic clashes with ships from Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia as Beijing seeks to assert its territorial claims on the disputed waterway.
China claims about 80 percent of the sea, including large swaths of Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, as well as the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands. Its claim also overlaps the SEZs of ASEAN members Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Since mid-August, the United States has repeatedly irritated China by sending warships to the South China Sea and blacklisted 24 Chinese entities for their involvement in the construction and installation of military facilities on these man-made islands.
ASEAN leaders are also expected to map out a strategy to address the COVID-19 pandemic and chart its economic recovery. In his opening speech, Muhyiddin Yassin, Malaysian Prime Minister, said the 10-member organization needed to work “hand in hand” with international agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and other countries to ensure that any vaccine is “affordable, accessible and equitably shared by all.”
The group’s leaders will also hold talks with key regional partners, including Japan, South Korea and China, and are expected to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on Sunday, a China-backed trade agreement that could become the largest. of the world.
The agreement is likely to more firmly cement China’s position as an economic partner in the region, after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership that was the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s “turn to Asia.”
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