W

hile leaders of ASEAN member states are set to sign on Sunday a pact that will mark the establishment of a region-wide economic grouping to be in place in January next year, long-running maritime border disputes in the South China Sea involving four ASEAN member states and China continue to overshadow the future of stability in the region.

In his speech during the 27th ASEAN Summit'€™s plenary meeting on Saturday, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo called on all ASEAN members '€œto promote peace and security in the region'€, urging the grouping to also maintain unity and share a joint role in addressing existing and future challenges.

'€œWithout unity and ASEAN'€™s centrality, the region will fall into the influence of major powers,'€ he said, adding that ASEAN must also be part of the solution in dealing with global challenges.

China and ASEAN have been engaged in stiff negotiations for the past few years over the Code of Conduct (CoC) '€” an instrument to help prevent military conflict in the South China Sea disputes involving the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei, as well as China, with China claiming the most disputed areas.

Malaysia made a similar call during the summit, with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak saying in his opening remarks that ASEAN nations should show the world that as a whole it was greater than the sum of its parts.

'€œThat includes maintaining peace, security and stability in the South China Sea,'€ Najib added. '€œWe stress the importance of resolving disputes through peaceful means in accordance with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS].'€

The 10 ASEAN leaders are expected to sign the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the establishment of the ASEAN Community on Sunday, as well as a political document on strategic action lines for the next 10 years called the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ASEAN 2025 '€” in a move Najib deemed as an '€œimportant milestone after nearly five decades of community building'€.

 Later on Saturday, while delivering his statement during the ASEAN-China Summit, Jokowi underlined several important factors that may help bolster relations between ASEAN and China, including by stopping all activities that might increase tensions in the South China Sea and respecting the existing international legal framework.

'€œFirst, ASEAN and China must, I repeat, must promote regional peace and stability,'€ Jokowi said, calling on all relevant parties to expedite talks over the CoC during the meeting, where Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was also present.

The President also reminded that ASEAN and China, which have huge potential for more economic cooperation, must build a mutually beneficial economic partnership to boost two-way trade to US$1 trillion by 2020 and increase two-way investment to $150 billion.

Najib, meanwhile, expressed his optimism that ASEAN and China may see more robust trade and investment ties next year as they will enter its 25th year of friendship.

While engaging in the ASEAN+3 Summit on Saturday, Jokowi also proposed three priorities for the future of cooperation between ASEAN and three of its neighboring countries '€” China, Japan and South Korea '€” on politics and security; education; and tourism, highlighting that effective and concrete relations between ASEAN and the three countries would create a peaceful and prosperous East Asia region.

Some of the measures are by establishing stronger cooperation in combating transnational crime and addressing illegal migration, as well as encouraging the establishment of a regional network for universities to narrow the education- quality gap.

On Saturday, the ASEAN members also signed the Convention against Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, a framework Najib said would allow them to be more responsive in addressing the issue of people smuggling. The framework also aims to ensure just and effective punishment for traffickers.

In a statement later during the plenary meeting, Jokowi said forest fires in Indonesia, which sent smoke to countries in the region, '€œshould not be a reason to prompt unfriendly public opinion on the country'€, saying that his government had carried out efforts to mitigate the problem, including through '€œstrong law enforcement'€.

Najib said members needed to work hand-in-hand to find solutions to the haze and other environmental problems, natural disasters and influx of migrants.

A plan to sign a deal to upgrade an economic partnership between ASEAN and China was canceled for an undisclosed reason on Saturday afternoon, following the 18th ASEAN-China Summit held earlier on the same day.

On the sidelines of the summit, Indonesia and Malaysia signed a charter on the establishment of a council of palm-oil producing countries as part of efforts to improve cooperation between those countries amid decreasing prices of crude palm oil. Its membership will be extended to all palm-oil cultivating countries, for example, Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand and Colombia.
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