Asean Leaders Adopt Regional Strategy Amid Indo-Pacific Woes
The outlook is careful to side with neither the U.S. nor China in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.
(Bloomberg) -- Southeast Asian nations have adopted a regional strategy in an attempt to protect their interests in the Indo-Pacific, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said, after “comprehensive deliberations” on the issue.
An agreement on the ‘‘Asean Outlook on the Indo-Pacific’’ comes after months of negotiations in which members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were reportedly divided in the days leading up to the leaders summit in Bangkok this weekend.
The outlook, published moments after Prayuth’s speech, is careful to side with neither the U.S. nor China in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions. It does, however, view the two ‘‘not as contiguous territorial spaces but as a closely integrated and interconnected region.’’ The Trump administration in recent years started referring to the region as “Indo-Pacific,’’ a term experts believe was created to curtail China’s rising influence.
‘‘The rise of material powers, i.e. economic and military, requires avoiding the deepening of mistrust, miscalculation, and patterns of behavior based on a zero-sum game,’’ it said.
The outlook ‘‘is significant as Asean now has a common approach on the issue,’’ the recently elected Prayuth told journalists at a press conference on Sunday following a meeting of all 10 heads of state.
‘‘It should also complement existing frameworks of cooperation at the regional and sub-regional levels and generate tangible and concrete deliverables for the benefit of the region’s peoples,’’ he said, adding that it is anchored on universally recognized principles such as mutual trust, respect and interest, and supported by a rules-based approach.
The leaders meeting took place as the shadow of President Donald Trump’s trade war keeps the region on edge. The Pentagon released its own Indo-Pacific Strategy Report earlier this month that focused on preserving a “free and open Indo-Pacific” in the face of a more “assertive China.”
“This Outlook represents the centrality and force of Asean in upholding the principles of peacekeeping, fostering a culture of dialog, and strengthening cooperation," Indonesian President Joko Widodo said at the plenary session of the summit on Saturday. “The trade war between U.S. and China has not shown any sign of reconcilement. There is a concern that the trade war is growing into a multi-front war."
The 34th Asean Summit is the first since Jokowi, as the Indonesian president is known, won re-election and Prayuth returned as Thai premier this year, while midterms in the Philippines strengthened President Rodrigo Duterte’s grip there.
--With assistance from Ryan Lovdahl.
To contact the reporters on this story: Philip J. Heijmans in Singapore at pheijmans1@bloomberg.net;Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at suttinee1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, John McCluskey
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.