Australia earmarks millions for Asean security projects: ‘we face destabilising, provocative, coercive actions’
- Australia has set aside US$186.7 million for Asean projects in areas including maritime security, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said
- ‘What happens in the South China Sea, in the Taiwan Strait, in the Mekong subregion, across the Indo-Pacific, affects us all,’ she said on Monday
“We face destabilising, provocative and coercive actions including unsafe conduct at sea and in the air,” Wong said in a speech at the summit, without naming China.
“What happens in the South China Sea, in the Taiwan Strait, in the Mekong subregion, across the Indo-Pacific, affects us all.”
Speaking alongside Wong, Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo said the South China Sea was of strategic importance and had a promising future as long as “nations in the region resolved to uphold cooperation over confrontation”.
The Philippines is ramping up efforts to counter what it describes as China’s “aggressive activities” in the South China Sea, which has also become a flashpoint for Chinese and US tensions around freedom-of-navigation operations.
Action urged on Myanmar
Asean has barred Myanmar’s top generals from attending its meetings until they commit to a peace plan, but has stopped short of further action. The junta has been furious over what it calls Asean’s interference in its internal affairs.
One activist called for international recognition of the parallel National Unity Government, which controls militias in the country.
“Asean countries and Australia please act. We need action, please don’t wait for [ASEAN’s] plan, it is useless,” activist Yuyu Chit said.