VIEWS surrounding the pandemic, contested waters and other issues were exchanged among foreign ministers from the region, including Secretary of Foreign Affairs (SFA) Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., at the Asean Informal Action Ministerial Meeting (IAMM), the 21st Asean Political-Security Community (APSC) Council Meeting and the 26th Asean Coordinating Council (ACC) Meeting.
The Philippines’s chief diplomat emphasized that now is the time to develop an Asean recovery plan: “I will not say ‘post-pandemic recovery plan.’ That connotes waiting for a vaccine or a cure still in the indeterminate future.”
At the IAMM, Locsin emphasized during the discussion on regional and international issues that, “The recovery cannot wait. It must begin even as we contain and reverse the contagion.”
He saw the significance of the bloc’s coordinated response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic and cautioned against protectionism. “Asean is the way. Rather than revert to protectionism—the instinctive response of most—opening up even with our comparative equality, we might [be able to] wring out whatever commerce remains in the region and the world.”
A sustainable solution rests on “acting as though we share…a common fate, either way,” he added.
Locsin also called for protection of vulnerable sectors such as migrants, stronger safeguards against cybercrimes and other threats online with the rapid shift to the digital economy necessitated by the “new normal.”
The SFA noted that recent developments in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea threaten the peace, stability and security of the region. He highlighted the need to lessen tensions between the great powers by inviting them to the table, and “away from what promises to turn our front yard into the next theater of war.”
Moreover, the secretary reiterated the Philippines’s commitment to the negotiations on the Code of Conduct. As country coordinator for Asean-China Dialogue Relations, he pointed out that the country remains steadfast in working closely with fellow Asean member-states and China to achieve an effective and substantive Code of Conduct.
The foreign ministers also convened for the ACC to discuss updates on Asean’s community-building cooperation and to follow-up on the leaders’ recommendations for a collective response to the global health crisis at the Special Asean Summit and the Special Asean Plus Three Summit on Covid-19 in April. Preparations for the upcoming 36th Asean Summit were likewise tackled. DFA
Image credits: DFA