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RI calls for de-escalation after Pelosi’s Taiwan visit
Jakarta, seen as a de facto leader of ASEAN, said the world was “in dire need of wisdom and responsibility from all leaders to ensure that peace and stability are maintained”, adding that it continued to “respect the One China policy”.
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ndonesia has called on the United States and China to de-escalate tensions in the Indo-Pacific following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan, which has angered Beijing.
“Indonesia is deeply concerned with the increasing rivalry among major powers. If not managed well, it may lead to open conflict and disrupt peace and stability, including in the Taiwan strait,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. “Indonesia calls on all parties to refrain from provocative actions that may worsen the situation.”
Jakarta, seen as a de facto leader of ASEAN, said the world was “in dire need of wisdom and responsibility from all leaders to ensure that peace and stability are maintained”, adding that it continued to “respect the One China policy”.
Pelosi left Taiwan on Wednesday after pledging solidarity and hailing its democracy, leaving a trail of Chinese anger over her brief visit to the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own, Reuters reported.
China demonstrated its outrage over the highest-level US visit to the island in 25 years with a burst of military activity in surrounding waters, summoning the US ambassador in Beijing and halting several agricultural imports from Taiwan.
Some of China's planned military exercises were to take place within Taiwan's 12-nautical-mile sea and air territory, according to Taiwan's defense ministry, an unprecedented move a senior defense official described to reporters as "amounting to a sea and air blockade of Taiwan".
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi vowed on Wednesday to punish those who offended Beijing as the country seethed over the visit, AFP reported.
"This is a complete farce. The United States is violating China's sovereignty under the guise of so-called 'democracy' [...]. Those who offend China will be punished," Wang said on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Phnom Penh.
Pelosi arrived with a congressional delegation on her unannounced but closely watched visit late on Tuesday, defying China's repeated warnings, in what she said showed unwavering US commitment to Taiwan's democracy.
"Our delegation came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear that we will not abandon Taiwan,” Pelosi told Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, whom Beijing suspects of pushing for formal independence, a possibility China has treated as a red line.
Tsai Ing-wen said, as quoted by AFP, that the island of 23 million would not be cowed by the military drills in the seas just off Taiwan’s coasts.
"Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down. We will [...] continue to hold the line of defense for democracy," Tsai said at an event with Pelosi in Taipei.
She also thanked the 82-year-old US lawmaker for "taking concrete actions to show your staunch support for Taiwan at this critical moment".
Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan came just hours before the opening ceremony of the ASEAN meeting, where the visit has raised concerns.
ASEAN, whose integrity has been questioned amid deficiencies in resolving the Myanmar crisis, once again finds itself in a tense geopolitical situation as both the US and China are important partners to it.
ASEAN spokesman Kung Phoak, Cambodia's deputy foreign minister, said ASEAN foreign ministers had expressed concern over "growing tension in the Taiwan Strait".
"We hope that all sides will try their best to de-escalate the tension there, avoid actions that may contribute to the escalation of tension and engage in dialogue," Kung Phoak said, as quoted by AFP.
Khung Poak said during an earlier morning briefing that ASEAN was ready to help “reconcile the differences [between countries and] engage in dialogue” amid “security challenges that can destabilize the region”.
“I think the foreign ministers will take this opportunity to discuss and find common ground so that ASEAN can contribute to the coordination as well as express their views on how to stabilize the situation in Taiwan,” he said, as quoted by the Khmer Times.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to attend the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting until Friday but has no plans to meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.
