Asean meets online to discuss coronavirus, South China Sea and tensions between Washington and Beijing

The pandemic has devastated the region’s manufacturing, export, travel and tourism industries and sparked the worst economic recessions in decades

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea – involving China, Taiwan and Asean members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – were also discussed

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during an online meeting with Asean foreign ministers. Photo: AP

Published: 9:16pm, 9 Sep 2020Updated: 9:26pm, 9 Sep 2020

Southeast Asia’s top diplomats held their annual talks by video on Wednesday to discuss the immense crisis wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and rising tensions in the South China Sea amid the escalating rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) ministerial meetings, delayed by a month, were held online due to continuing health risks posed by Covid-19. The 10-nation bloc’s foreign ministers were to meet Asian and Western counterparts, including those from the US and China, later in the week, capped by an annual security forum.

Vietnam is hosting the talks as this year’s chairman of the diverse group. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called for regional solidarity amid the headwinds in an austere opening ceremony attended by a few dozen diplomats in the capital, Hanoi.

“The valuable fruits of our cooperation are being tested in an environment full of volatility and unprecedented challenges, especially the Covid-19 pandemic,” Phuc said.

The pandemic has delayed or cancelled dozens of meetings and shut out the colourful ceremonies, group handshakes and photo-ops that have been the trademarks of Asean’s annual gatherings.

The talks focused on combating the pandemic and ways to help member states recover economically. The contagion has devastated the region’s manufacturing, export, travel and tourism industries and sparked the worst economic recessions in decades across the region of 650 million people.

Southeast Asian nations have been impacted by the pandemic differently, with hard-hit Philippines grappling with more than 245,000 confirmed Covid-19 infections, including nearly 4,000 deaths, and the tiny socialist state of Laos reporting just 22 cases. The Philippines and Indonesia each have more than double the infections reported by China, where the outbreak started late last year.