Southeast Asian leaders plan to issue a contingency plan that upholds international law, sovereignty and freedom of navigation in what could be seen as a veiled rebuke to the United States, Israel and Iran over the Middle East war which has impacted their region, according to a draft declaration seen Thursday by The Associated Press.
The declaration is set to be issued by the leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations when they meet in an annual summit on Friday in the central Philippine island province of Cebu.
It also outlines a crisis plan to deal with the energy shortages and other global problems caused by the war.
This year’s host, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has said the summit with 10 other national leaders and a lower-level representative from Myanmar will focus on the region’s energy security, food supply and the protection of its people, including more than a million Southeast Asian workers and seafarers in the Middle East.
Marcos has ordered the gathering to be stripped of its traditional pomp in recognition of economic headwinds worldwide.
A volatile but economically fast-growing region of about 680 million people, Southeast Asia has its share of major flash points, including decades-long territorial disputes involving China, a five-year civil war in Myanmar and a recent border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia.
But its leaders have expressed serious concern over a war that has caused global economic fallout and endangered many citizens of their nations.
Several workers in the Middle East, including two from the Philippines, have been killed in the current fighting, and thousands of workers from Southeast Asia have either flown home or were evacuated by their governments from the troubled region.
The Asian Development Bank warned in March, about a month after the hostilities in the Middle East broke out, that prolonged disruptions from the war could choke growth and spur inflation in Asia and the Pacific region, which are heavily dependent on oil and gas from the Middle East.
“We emphasized the importance of upholding international law and ensuring that regional cooperation remains anchored in dialogue, trust and respect for sovereignty,” the draft statement says.
Southeast Asia will “maintain open, transparent and predictable markets as well as secure and open sea lanes, and ensure freedom of navigation, the safe, unimpeded and continuous transit passage of vessels and aircraft in straits used for international navigation,” it says.
That will “preserve the unimpeded flow of essential goods, including food, energy and key inputs, in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” it says.
The ASEAN leaders will affirm “shared resolve” to fortify regional resilience.
The contingency plan calls for actions including the ratification possibly this year of an agreement that will pave the way for coordinated emergency fuel sharing, planning a regional power grid, diversifying the region’s sources of crude oil, promoting the use of electric vehicles and studying the use of new technologies, including civilian nuclear energy.
They are also seeking “a possible ASEAN crisis communication and coordination protocol to ensure a coherent, timely and coordinated regional response to crises.”
Aside from the Philippines, ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam. East Timor was accepted as a full member in October last year.
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