Nations eye virus crisis fund in video summit
Southeast Asian group modifies annual forum
HANOI, Vietnam — Southeast Asian leaders held their annual summit by video Friday to show unity and discuss a regional emergency fund to respond to the immense crisis brought by the coronavirus pandemic. Long-divisive South China Sea conflicts were also in the spotlight.
The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations talked online due to regional travel restrictions and health risks that delayed dozens of meetings and shut out the ceremonial sessions, group handshakes and photo-ops that have been the trademark of the 10-nation bloc’s annual summits.
Vietnam, the current ASEAN chair, had planned face-to-face meetings, but most member states assessed it was still too risky for leaders to travel.
Still, it organized a colorful opening ceremony with traditional songs and dance in Hanoi for about 200 Vietnamese officials and foreign diplomats. They showed up without masks and sat close to each other while the heads of state watched remotely on their screens.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is a test for ASEAN,” Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said. He said the outbreak “is fanning the flame of dormant challenges” in the political, economic and social environment and helping escalate frictions among major powers.
Southeast Asian nations have been impacted by the pandemic differently, with hard-hit Indonesia grappling with more than 50,000 infections and more than 2,600 deaths, and the tiny socialist state of Laos reporting just 19 cases. The diverse region of 650 million people, however, has been an Asian COVID-19 hot spot, with a combined total of more than 138,000 confirmed cases that have well surpassed those of China, where the outbreak started.
The economic toll has been harsh, with ASEAN’S leading economies, including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, facing one of their most severe recessions in decades.
A high-priority project is the establishment of an ASEAN COVID-19 response fund which could be used to help member states purchase medical supplies and protective suits.
Thailand has pledged to contribute $100,000 and ASEAN partners, including China, Japan and South Korea, were expected to announce contributions after the terms of the fund were recently finalized, a senior Southeast Asian diplomat told The Associated Press.
A regional stockpile of medical supplies has also been approved and the group will undertake a study to be financed by Japan on the possibility of establishing an ASEAN center on public health emergencies, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to speak publicly.