LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia (AP) 鈥 Alarm over Myanmar鈥檚 still-unfolding deadly civil strife, including an armed attack on an aid convoy, and China鈥檚 aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea are expected to challenge Southeast Asian leaders' commitments to non-interference and consensus decision-making as they meet in Indonesia this week.
Top diplomats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to finalize the agenda ahead of the two-day summit of the 10-nation bloc鈥檚 heads of state.
The United States and China are not part of the twice-yearly summit, but their escalating rivalry looms large over the high-profile Asian gathering. Beijing has warned that U.S. efforts to strengthen security alliances and intensify combat-readiness drills with Asian allies would endanger regional stability.
Founded during the Cold War in 1967, ASEAN has avoided getting entangled in major-power competition as a bloc. But its diverse members are often involved in partnerships and disputes with superpowers. They range from authoritarian Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, which are closely aligned with Beijing, to liberal democracies like the Philippines, which is Washington鈥檚 oldest treaty ally in Asia and recently in the country, to China鈥檚 outrage.
The other members 鈥 Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam 鈥 have heavy economic and security engagements with both the U.S. and China.
鈥淎SEAN wants to remain open, to cooperate with anyone,鈥 said Indonesian President Joko Widodo, this year鈥檚 ASEAN chair. 鈥淲e also don鈥檛 want ASEAN to be anyone鈥檚 proxy.鈥
Bedrock principles of non-interference in each other鈥檚 domestic affairs and deciding by consensus have held the unwieldy club of autocrats, monarchs and democracies together for decades. But that approach has also prevented it from dealing swiftly with crises that spill across borders.
ASEAN's principles have been tested since Myanmar鈥檚 army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and plunged the country into deadly chaos. It's become one of the bloc's gravest crises since its establishment.
Military airstrikes in April , including many children, who were attending a ceremony by opponents of army rule, according to witnesses. Human Rights Watch on Tuesday as an 鈥渁pparent war crime."
Lina Alexandra of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta said ASEAN鈥檚 inability to persuasively and rapidly address a potential political conflagration like the Myanmar crisis should prompt it to take a second look at its founding principles.
鈥淎SEAN can no longer hide under the principles of non-interference and consensus,鈥 she told the AP. 鈥淎ll of that can work in a non-urgent situation that does not require speed and immediate decision-making to control a crisis.鈥
Over the weekend, a convoy delivering aid to displaced villagers and carrying Indonesian and Singaporean diplomats came under fire by unidentified men armed with pistols in Myanmar鈥檚 eastern Shan state. A security team with the convoy returned fire and a vehicle was damaged, but no one in the convoy was injured, state-run television MRTV reported.
Indonesia had arranged for the delivery of the aid after a long-delayed assessment 鈥渂ut it was very unfortunate that in the middle of the trip there was a shootout,鈥 Widodo said Monday.
鈥淭his will not deter ASEAN and Indonesia from calling for an end to the violence,鈥 Widodo told reporters Monday, renewing his call for dialogue among contending parties in Myanmar. 鈥淣obody wins in this situation.鈥
More than 3,450 civilians have been killed by security forces since Myanmar鈥檚 military forcibly took power, and thousands more remain imprisoned, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which keeps tallies of casualties and arrests linked to repression by the military government.
Indonesia has considerably eased its fierce criticism of Myanmar鈥檚 military since assuming the rotating role as ASEAN's leader. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the country is taking 鈥渁 non-megaphone diplomacy approach鈥 to encourage dialogue and end violence, which are goals of a five-point peace plan Southeast Asian leaders negotiated with Myanmar鈥檚 top general in 2021.
Under international pressure to do more to address the violence, ASEAN leaders stopped inviting Myanmar鈥檚 top general to their summits after 2020, allowing only non-political representatives. Myanmar鈥檚 military rulers have protested the move as a violation of the bloc鈥檚 non-interference policy.
"To put it mildly, the organization is now facing nothing short of an existential crisis,鈥 said Richard Heydarian, a lecturer on international affairs at the state-run University of the Philippines.
Even regional diplomats who were involved in ASEAN work before have been either guardedly optimistic about the bloc or harshly critical. When asked by The Associated Press to give one word that best describes the bloc鈥檚 current status, one Southeast Asian diplomat replied, 鈥淧rogressing.鈥 Another said, 鈥淥pprobrium.鈥
They spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of clearance to comment publicly on the issue.
In a post-summit communique to be issued by Widodo on behalf of the ASEAN leaders at the summit, they plan to condemn the reported deadly airstrike by the Myanmar military and add that 鈥渁ll forms of violence must end immediately, particularly the use of force against civilians.鈥
They plan to reissue a call for self-restraint in the , repeating language used in previous ASEAN statements that does not name China.
"Concerns were expressed by some ASEAN member states on the land reclamations, activities, and serious incidents in the area, including damage to the marine environment, which has eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions, and may undermine peace, security, and stability in the region,鈥 said a draft of the communique, which was obtained by the AP.
At a closed-door session of the summit, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. plans to raise a Feb. 6 encounter in which a that temporarily blinded at least two crewmembers on a Philippine patrol vessel off a disputed shoal, a Filipino official told the AP on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authorization to discuss the matter publicly.
Early this year, Marcos granted American forces access to four more Philippine military camps under a 2014 defense pact. Beijing was infuriated by that agreement, which it feared would provide American forces staging grounds to intervene in territorial disputes in the South China Sea and Taiwan. Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory to be .
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Associated Press journalists Andi Jatmiko and Achmad Ibrahim contributed to this report.
