In summit with SE Asia, Japan champions open seas, Australia defends AUKUS pact

Mexan

27/10/2021 11:09

* Australia eyes ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership 
    * Japan PM urges Myanmar progress
    * Jokowi fears AUKUS will trigger rivalry
    * Morrison says pact supports regional stability

    By Ain Bandial
    BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime
Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday stressed to Southeast Asian
leaders his country's strong opposition to challenges to a free
and open maritime order, underscoring regional concerns about
China's growing military clout.
    Kishida took part in a virtual summit with leaders of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), who earlier
discussed concerns about militarisation and confrontation in the
South China Sea and called for the conclusion of an ASEAN-China
code of conduct "consistent with international law".
    U.S. President Joe Biden will join the virtual East Asia
Summit later on Wednesday, with leaders of China, India,
Australia, New Zealand, Russia and South Korea, Japan and ASEAN
members.
    Southeast Asia has become a strategic battleground in the
rivalry between the United States and China, with Washington and
its allies stepping up patrols to challenge Beijing's vast
maritime fleet, which it deploys to buttress its claims to
sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.
    An international arbitration tribunal in 2016 invalidated
China's claims, which overlap with Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan,
the Philippines and Brunei.  
    A trilateral security pact agreed last month between the
United States, Britain and Australia, under which Australia will
get access to nuclear-powered submarines, has added to fears of
an arms race taking shape in Southeast Asia. 
    Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday said he was
concerned the agreement, known as AUKUS "could spark rivalry in
the region", according to his foreign minister, Retno Marsudi.
    The Philippines has backed AUKUS but its president, Rodrigo
Duterte, on Wednesday said it "must complement and not
complicate our working methods for cooperation."
    The leaders' remarks were made a meeting between ASEAN and
Australia, whose prime minister, Scott Morrison, proposed a
strengthening of relations to the level of comprehensive
strategic partnership (CSP), which would make it the first
country to agree such a deal with ASEAN. 
    Morrison also sought to reassure ASEAN that AUKUS did not
mean a pursuit of nuclear arms and was not a security threat.
    "AUKUS adds to our network of partnerships that support
regional stability and security," he said.
    A day earlier, ASEAN addressed another burning issue in
Southeast Asia, the ongoing crisis in Myanmar following a coup
eight months ago. ASEAN chair Brunei said they reiterated a call
for special envoy Erywan Yusof to visit the country as mediator
"with full access to all parties concerned". 
    Myanmar was not represented at the summit, as ASEAN had 
snubbed the leader of the coup, Min Aung Hlaing, for his failure
to follow an agreed peace process, and the junta refused the
bloc's offer to send an alternative representative.
    Despite the acrimony of Myanmar's no-show, ASEAN chair
Brunei took a conciliatory tone in its summit statement.
    "Myanmar needs both time and political space to deal with
its many and complex challenges," it said.

 (Additional reporting by Stanley Widianto in Jakarta; Kiyoshi
Takenaka in Tokyo, Colin Packham in Canberra; Writing by Martin
Petty; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
 ((martin.petty@tr.com; +66896070413))