Asean foreign ministers link hands “The Asean Way” at the opening ceremony of the 50th Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting at the Philippine International Convention Center Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017 in Metro Manila. They are (from left) Malaysia’s Anifah Aman, Myanmar’s U Kyaw Tin, Thailand’s Don Pramudwinai, Vietnam’s Pham Binh Minh, Philippines’ Alan Peter Cayetano, Singapore’s Vivian Balakrishnan, Brunei’s Lim Jock Seng, Cambodia’s Prak Sokhonn, Indonesia’s Retno Marsudi, Laos’ Saleumxay Kommasith and Asean Secretary-General Le Luong Minh.
AP Photo
Vietnam urged other Southeast Asian nations to take a stronger stand against Chinese expansions in the South China Sea, as a tense regional security forum began Saturday at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) with North Korea also under fire over its nuclear program.
Ahead of the launch of the annual gathering of foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Vietnam made a bold play against China with a raft of suggested changes to a planned joint communique.
It set the stage for what was expected to be a fiery few days of Asean diplomacy forum in the Philippines, with the top diplomats from China, the United States, Russia and North Korea joining their Asean and other Asia-Pacific counterparts for security talks.
The meetings will take place as the United Nations Security Council votes this weekend on a US-drafted resolution to toughen sanctions against North Korea to punish the isolated regime for its missile and nuclear tests.
The United States said it would also seek to build unified pressure on the North at the Manila event — known as the Asean Regional Forum — and Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Pyongyang would receive a strong message.
But on the South China Sea dispute — one of Asia’s other top powder keg issues — there was far less consensus with Vietnam resisting efforts by the Philippines to placate Beijing, diplomats told AFP.
The annual meeting of Southeast Asia’s top diplomats opened on Saturday without the usual security overkill. Motorists were allowed through as joggers, cyclists and tennis players sweated under a cloudy sky by the Manila bay — a usual destination of family members who want to get a whiff of the ocean breeze during the weekend. The latest annual meetings of the Asean foreign ministers would also include those from the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas.
Public traffic was only stopped when the foreign ministers from the 10-member Asean arrived mid-morning Saturday.
According to Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde, President Rodrigo Duterte has shown disdain for security lockdowns that inconvenience the public.
Still, police deployed more than 13,000 officers in the capital and declared no-fly and no-sail zones around the venue.
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