Foreign ministers from a dozen nations have convened in Indonesia for roundtable discussions as part of Southeast Asia’s annual security summit.
Top diplomats from China, the United States, and Russia are among those attending Friday’s ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
In opening remarks to foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), chairman Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the gathering aimed to seek solutions rather than exacerbate regional and global problems.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held “candid and constructive” talks with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Thursday in Jakarta, according to the U.S State Department.
Last year’s ARF was dominated by US-China sparring, which occurred just days after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, enraging Beijing, which started live-fire drills near Taiwan and closed various avenues of communication with Washington.
The discussion on Thursday was part of continuous efforts to keep lines of communication open and “responsibly manage competition by reducing the risk of misperception and miscalculation,” according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
According to China’s foreign ministry, Wang told Blinken that the key to getting the relationship back on track was to have a “rational and pragmatic attitude.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also in Jakarta, where he gave an interview saying the war in Ukraine would not end until the West “gives up its plans to preserve its domination”, including its “obsessive desire” to defeat Russia strategically.
Western countries are also expected to censure Myanmar’s ruling military for alleged atrocities against civilians as the junta tightens down on opponents and deploys fighter jets and heavy artillery to wipe out an armed pro-democracy resistance movement.
Myanmar has been prevented from attending ASEAN meetings due to the junta’s refusal to honor a two-year-old agreement with the organization to cease hostilities and begin negotiations. ASEAN’s cohesiveness has been put to the test over how to handle the crisis.
