ASEAN’s 50th year agenda: beyond the South China Sea?
This week’s smooth, relatively uneventful retreat by ASEAN’s foreign ministers appears to have put the grouping’s agenda on track for its 50th year, choosing to focus beyond the South China Sea disputes and set the stage for an April leaders’ summit that will put the spotlight purposefully on ASEAN’s golden anniversary. In contrast to recent years where the South China Sea tensions, including the construction of structures by China and the barring of access to other Southeast Asian claimant countries’ fishers were discussed in ministerial-level discussions, this year’s first retreat among ASEAN foreign ministers marked a step back from this long-simmering issue to a friendlier, wider exchange on all other matters relevant to marking ASEAN’s 50th year. “The (February 21) retreat went well because they had a frank but friendly exchange on the issues such as the need for ASEAN unity, assert ASEAN centrality, the need to move ahead with the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, particularly a framework and the need for ASEAN to be more people-centred,” a senior ASEAN official said.
