US-China rivalry, Ukraine war, North Korea missiles in spotlight at Asean security talks

Indonesian President Widodo told foreign ministers attending the Asean Regional Forum that the meeting aimed to seek solutions rather than exacerbate geopolitical problems

Diplomats will also address Pyongyang’s launch of its latest intercontinental ballistic missile and the political crisis in Myanmar

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo delivers a speech at an Asean meeting in Jakarta on Friday. Photo: AP

Published: 1:43pm, 14 Jul 2023

Foreign ministers of two dozen countries meet in Indonesia on Friday with US-China rivalry, the war in Ukraine and North Korean missiles set to dominate round table talks in Southeast Asia’s annual security gathering.

Top diplomats from China, the United States and Russia were among those set to join Friday’s Asean Regional Forum (ARF), where broad-based agendas are typically hijacked by the week’s geopolitical flare-ups, offering a theatre for fierce rebukes, superpower squabbles and occasional walkouts.

In opening remarks to foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), chairman Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the gathering aimed to seek solutions rather than exacerbate regional and global problems.

“We, the Asean members that are developing, need the understanding, wisdom, support from developed countries, from our neighbouring countries, to leave the zero sum approach and take a win-win solution approach,” he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held “candid and constructive” talks with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Thursday in Jakarta, according to the State Department, the latest in a series of interactions it said are aimed at managing differences between the two superpowers.