ASEAN urges Myanmar to end violence, seek reconciliation
ASEAN foreign ministers on March 2 urged the Myanmar military to desist from violence and respect the will of the Myanmar people, as the regime continued cracking down on protests against the February 1 coup.
The messages were conveyed during the informal ASEAN foreign ministers meeting March 2, which was attended by Wunna Maung Lwin, the top envoy appointed by Myanmar’s military regime after the coup. The online meeting came two days after security forces killed at least 18 people in the bloodiest crackdown yet on swelling protests nationwide.
Singaporean Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan told the media after the meeting: “ASEAN wants to continue to engage, and to be helpful and to be constructive wherever possible. But ultimately, the solution lies within Myanmar itself.
“The only way you’re going to get a long-term sustainable viable solution is for national reconciliation to occur, and, in particular, we call for the release of President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the other political detainees.”
Both are currently detained incommunicado pending court trials.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called the crisis in Myanmar “tragic” but remained hopeful that wisdom would prevail.
He told the BBC in an interview: “I think sense can still eventually prevail. It may take quite a long time, but it can happen.”
He added that using lethal force against unarmed demonstrators was not acceptable. “If [the Myanmar population] decide that the government is not on their side, I think the government has a very big problem,” Lee said.
Dr Balakrishnan stressed that Singapore has not recognised the regime as Myanmar’s government, but recognises that the country’s Constitution provides for a special role for the military. This includes reserving a quarter of all seats in Parliament and control of key ministries.
ASEAN, which operates by consensus, has shied away from condemning the coup in its member state Myanmar, unlike the US and other Western countries.
This, and the recent shuttle diplomacy of Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, has kept the door open to talks with the junta.
Analysts point out that the 10-nation bloc cannot afford to sit back because Myanmar’s political crisis threatens the bloc’s partnerships with larger powers that have taken strong positions against the coup.
Reflecting this nuanced position, Dr Balakrishnan called the meeting “an opportunity for nine of us to listen to the representative of the military authorities from Myanmar”, instead of a meeting between 10 foreign ministers.
Retno said ASEAN is ready to facilitate dialogue when required. But “ASEAN’s hopes and well-meaning intentions to help will not materialise if Myanmar does not open its doors to ASEAN”, she said.
The Tatmadaw (as the military is called) – which ruled the country for some five decades before 2011 – alleges that the November 8 election that gave Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party its second sweeping victory is fraudulent. It promises to hold another poll after the one-year state of emergency.
Since seizing power on February 1, commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing has tried to stamp the junta’s authority, only to meet with fierce protests that the authorities have cracked down on.
Dr Balakrishan said: “It is not yet too late. They are at the abyss of violence, which will be of terrible consequences for Myanmar and indeed for our region.
“It is not yet too late, and hence the plea for them to desist from this violent repression of the popular unrest that has resulted from the coup.”
BLUE economy is a transboundary issue that should be addressed collectively at regional and sub-regional levels to better manage ocean resources and ensure benefits for all in the region. ASEAN countries and India shall aim to transform traditional ocean economy to a sustainable, innovative and inclusive blue economy.
The use of the oceans has diversified from their classic role as a medium of transport to being a wellspring for economic resources. The economic wealth of the oceans is represented by the staggering variety of living resources
(fish and marine vegetation that provide human protein, feed for other species), marine biotechnology (including marine pharmaceuticals, food additives, marine cosmetics, etc, and biofuels), material goods (minerals, placer sand and gravel), goods and services (shipping, inland water transportation, ports, shipbuilding and ship repair, marine information and communication technology, fishing, tourism, other marine manufacturing and trade in services), nonrenewable energy (hydrocarbons, hydrides, gases, etc.) and renewable energy (wind, wave, tidal, thermal, ocean thermal energy conversion and biomass).
The oceans have also been a catalyst for the development of a number of industries, both on land and at sea. The contribution of ocean services has been enormous for the region. The value of key ocean assets is conservatively estimated to reach at least $24 trillion with an annual value of goods and services of $2.5 trillion. Further, the oceans are pegged in seventh position among the world’s top 10 economies.
Healthy seas are important for lives and livelihoods. However, the unbridled economic exploitation of the oceans over the past centuries can no longer continue. Indeed, it has been increasingly recognised
that the wealth of resources that the oceans represent is not endless and all further economic exploitation of the oceans needs to conform to a sustainable model of development that recognises the centrality of the oceans as the font of all life on Earth.
Accordingly, in 2015, the global community announced its commitment to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals 2030, within which Goal 14 relates to sustainable development of the ocean resources: “Life below Water – Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.”
Fulfilment of targets of SDG14 would lay the foundation of the blue economy but there could be still several unsettled tasks to be fulfilled to accomplish the key objectives of the regional comprehensive blue economy strategy.
In the post-Covid-19 period, regional cooperation will pay an immense catalytic role in framing an integrated blue economy framework to promote ocean research and development and climate resilient measures. Protecting local marine resources is one of the most urgent needs in
promoting sustainable tourism. Regional comprehensive mapping of marine projects in ASEAN-India region would facilitate the effective implementation of sustainable coastal and marine tourism.
At the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit on Jan. 25, 2018, leaders of ASEAN countries and India outlined their vision for the future of the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership, wherein they designated ASEAN-India cooperation in the maritime domain as one of the key areas of this partnership. India endorsed the “blue economy” as a new and central pillar of the country’s economic activity. It encompasses both, the coastal areas and the linked hinterland. The “blue economy” is an important aspect of the ASEAN-India strategic partnership.
The contemporary blue economy discourse highlights maritime safety and security, maritime connectivity and maritime domain awareness, as also the sustainable harnessing of oceanic resources. The objective is to promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth that will maximize employment opportunities within the ASEAN-India
region, with specific concentration on maritime economic activities.
In this regard, high tech “blue small and medium enterprises” can generate a large number of white collar employment in the region. To enhance the ASEAN-India partnership in the transition to a blue economy, ASEAN and India will engage in finding ways and means to strengthen maritime safety at the operational level and help realise the vision of the IndoPacific Oceans’ Initiative, India’s Indo-Pacific concept.
It is envisaged that the development of the blue economy at a pan-regional level will be further strengthened with the establishment of the ASEAN-India Blue Economy Framework (AIBEF). The establishment of the AIBEF emanates from the Delhi Declaration of
2018, which was adopted at the Leaders’ Summit held on Jan. 25, 2018 in Delhi. India is a great source of partnership to develop national and regional blue economies.
India has cutting edge technologies for strengthening the capacity to explore the blue resources such as placer and marine minerals, deep-sea and ultra-deep sea hydrocarbons (oil, natural gas and gas hydrates), renewable energy (wind, wave, current, thermal energy), fresh water desalination and marine bioprospecting, among others.
The maritime linkage flows automatically into the realm of sharing a common maritime domain, a common dependence on the oceans and seas, and a common understanding of the importance of sustainable exploitation of the oceans resources.
ASEAN and India are ideal partners in advancing the agenda of the blue economy. In furtherance of this vision of the leaders of ASEAN and India, and in recognition of the emergence of the blue economy as a subject of sharp and sustained focus in the international discourse on maritime affairs, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in partnership with the ASEAN-India Centre
(AIC), Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), and the National Maritime Foundation (NMF), plan to organise the fourth ASEAN-India Workshop on the blue economy in May/June 2021 in India.
Previously the MEA conducted three workshops of the ASEAN-India blue economy in 2017 in Vietnam, in 2018 in New Delhi and in 2019 in Bangkok. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the fourth workshop was postponed to 2021.
In the third workshop, participants recommended designing an action plan to implement the Blue Economy Vision. ASEAN countries and India may consider extending technical and financial support to implement the action plan. They also recommended that ASEAN and India continue to work together in combating marine debris, particularly from land-based activities, and strengthen collaborative actions to promote environmentally sound technology and management.