Ukraine war: EU fails to convince Southeast Asia to condemn Russia’s invasion

A draft statement ahead of an EU-Asean foreign ministers’ meeting ‘strongly condemns’ the war but avoids specific references to Moscow

The document also calls for ‘restraint’ in the South China Sea, where tensions between China and Asean member the Philippines have been escalating

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The EU is currently looking for ways around a Hungarian block on aid for Ukraine. Photo: AP

Published: 10:34pm, 30 Jan 2024Updated: 11:47pm, 30 Jan 2024

The European Union has failed to convince Southeast Asian nations to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ahead of a foreign ministers’s meeting in Brussels on Friday.

A draft statement seen by the Post said “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering”, but stopped short of naming Moscow.

The text, marked as agreed by both sides, is a near-exact copy of a statement agreed by the EU and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in December 2022. It adds there were “other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions”.

Despite the EU’s efforts, neither statement includes any mention of Taiwan.

The 2024 statement also urges parties to “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of all activities” in the South China Sea and “encourages all countries to avoid any unilateral actions that endanger peace, security, and stability in the region”.

A senior EU official said: “On many of these issues, of course, we will not have exactly the same views between EU and Asean, so it’s a matter of negotiation.”