Asean holds special coronavirus summit, but will the bloc’s plans come to fruition?

Southeast Asian leaders meeting for the first time since the pandemic are looking for enhanced cooperation through measures such as an emergency response fund

But observers point out the association previously showed little appetite for multilateralism, and question whether concrete action will emerge

Reading Time:4 minutes

Multiple screens of a live video conference for Asean Plus Three special summit on the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:00pm, 14 Apr 2020Updated: 10:54pm, 14 Apr 2020

Southeast Asian leaders conferring on Tuesday for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic offered full-throated support for enhanced cooperation to combat the public health crisis and deal with its likely far-reaching economic after-effects.

But with the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) – almost of half of which are in some form of lockdown – having shown little appetite for multilateralism in the earlier weeks of the pandemic and with the complexity of implementing public health initiatives across borders, observers are questioning whether the rhetoric will be rapidly translated into action.

Of the measures that gained broad support in the Asean special meeting was the formation of an emergency response fund that could be tapped by countries looking to purchase essential medical equipment.

Trade was also top of the agenda in the special summit, which was held by video link. National borders are virtually closed across the region, where confirmed infections currently number nearly 20,000 with nearly 900 fatalities. The Philippines has the highest number of cases with 5,223, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

The leaders held two sets of meetings: in the morning the 10 Asean heads of state conferred among themselves, and in the afternoon they held an “Asean Plus Three” meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

In the Asean-only meeting, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told his counterparts his country urgently needed trade links to remain open because of the supply shortages it was facing as infections continued to rise.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x