The Jakarta meetings have been joined by both China and the United States, whose top diplomats met on Thursday on the sidelines in the Indonesian capital.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China’s Wang Yi of consequences after a cybersecurity breach blamed on China again threatened to undermine a nascent stabilisation of ties, a US official told AFP.
Wang told Blinken that the United States should not interfere in China’s affairs and “work with” Beijing to improve their relationship, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
ASEAN has been divided on the Myanmar crisis and how to engage with its pro-China junta since the 2021 coup plunged the country into violent turmoil.
The bloc issued a much-debated communique on Thursday that repeated its condemnation of violence. It reiterated that a five-point peace plan agreed with the junta, but largely ignored since, must remain the basis for resolving the conflict.
Myanmar remains an ASEAN member but its rulers have been barred from top-level summits over a lack of progress on the plan, which aims to end violence and resume talks between the military and the anti-coup movement.
“The Indo-Pacific should not be another battleground. Our region must remain stable, and we intend to keep it that way,” Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told ministers at the start of an 18-nation East Asia Summit ministerial meeting on Friday.
Source: CNA
