Myanmar's military coup and conflicts over the South China Sea dominated a two-day meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers, who have sought to end Myanmar's crisis through a five-step consensus and to defuse tensions with China through a proposed agreement.
Hosted by Indonesia in Jakarta, the meeting of ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, ended with a 53-point press statement on Saturday that also expressed "grave concerns" over nuclear-armed North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile testing and ballistic missile launches.
"Inclusive national dialogue is key to finding a peaceful resolution to the situation in Myanmar," the ministers said of their consensus two years ago with Myanmar’s military leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, for ending the country's descent into violence and instability since the military seized power on Feb. 1, 2021.
The ministers emphasized a need to "promote sustainable and equitable development in Rakhine State," they said, referring to one of the regions where human rights experts investigated alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity by Myanmar’s armed forces, the Tatmadaw, against the Rohingya minority.
"We emphasized the need to facilitate the voluntary return of displaced persons in a safe, secure, and dignified manner," they said.
The military coup displaced 1.21 million people within Myanmar, the U.N. refugee agency reports, while 1 million sought refuge or asylum in neighboring countries.
Though Myanmar is an ASEAN member, its foreign minister was not allowed to participate in the meeting because of the country’s failure to implement the five-step consensus.
Nearly 8,000 clashes have been reported throughout Myanmar between junta and pro-democracy forces in the last two years, according to numbers compiled by RFA from ISP-Myanmar. pic.twitter.com/6oFVfZTLYG
— Radio Free Asia (@RadioFreeAsia) February 3, 2023
Tensions with China and North Korea
China's pursuit of increased power over the South China Sea has been a longstanding concern. In 2020, ASEAN leaders drew a line in the ocean with China, unifying behind a stance that a 1982 U.N. maritime treaty should serve as the basis for resolving disputes over claims in the South China Sea.
At their latest meeting the ministers of ASEAN, a 10-nation intergovernmental organization formed to promote regional stability, emphasized "the importance of nonmilitarization and self-restraint" rather than making any claims that "could further complicate the situation and escalate tensions in the South China Sea.
Leaders of ASEAN — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam — have invoked the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as its bottom-line legal framework for dealing with China's claims to neighbors' territories on historical grounds.
Four of those nations – Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Brunei – have been involved in most of the disputed claims with China. Cambodia and Laos, on the other hand, have opposed taking a strong stance against Beijing.
The minister discussed the growing potential for a Taiwan strait conflict that "could lead to miscalculation, serious confrontation, open conflicts, and unpredictable consequences," such as a dangerous U.S.-China military showdown.
ASEAN leaders also expressed "grave concerns over the recent surge in [North Korea's] intercontinental ballistic missile testing and ballistic missile launches," the ministers said. North Korea test fired dozens of missiles last year, including potentially nuclear-capable one that could hit South Korea and the United States.
"We urged all concerned parties to exercise utmost restraint," the ministers said, "avoid actions and military reciprocations that may escalate the situation, resume peaceful dialogue and continue working towards the realization of lasting peace and stability in a denuclearized Korean Peninsula."
