Jokowi to East Asian countries: Prevent new wars, resort to dialogues

JAKARTA, Indonesia — ASEAN Summit Chairman and Indonesian President Joko Widodo called on East Asian countries not to create new wars and resort instead to dialogues to "bridge existential differences."

"We have a shared responsibility to not create new conflicts, to not create new tensions, to not create new wars, and at the same time, we are also responsible to ease high tensions, to soften hard conditions, to create rooms for dialogue, and to bridge existential differences," Widodo said at the 18th East Asia Summit on Thursday.

"I just want to emphasize one point: that we are all sitting around this table and have an equally enormous responsibility to create peace, stability, and prosperity in the region," he added.

Widodo said that the repeated mention of peace and stability means that countries acknowledge their importance to the region’s growth.

''[It's] hard to tell how many times the words peace and stability have been uttered by [each] of us. It definitely shows that, essentially, we acknowledge that peace and stability are the main keys to [achieving] prosperity," he said.

"I ask the leaders of the East Asia summit to make this forum a forum for us to strengthen cooperation, not sharpen rivalries," he added.

Apart from the ASEAN leaders, present at the summit were United States Vice President Kamala Harris, Russian Federation Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Philippine President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., meanwhile, called on the ASEAN and East Asian countries to oppose the dangerous use of coast guards and militia vessels in the South China Sea (SCS).

Marcos expressed concern about consistent actions that are in violation of obligations under international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct (DOC) of the Parties in the South China Sea.

He reiterated his call to all parties in the SCS dispute to exercise self-restraint.

Marcos mentioned anew the Philippines’ commitment to uphold the rule of law and support the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. — VBL, GMA Integrated News