JakartaPost-Oct 9, 2024
V ice President Ma’ruf Amin jetted off to Vientiane on Tuesday to lead the Indonesian delegation at the ASEAN leader-level talks in the Laotian capital this week, bringing messages of maintaining the bloc’s centrality and ensuring regional security at the forefront of his packed agenda. Ma’ruf will engage in dozens of meetings with leaders and officials of regional neighbors as well as key external partners during his time in Vientiane. On his agenda is to remind the bloc of some of its achievements over the past decade and encouraging the continuity of some of the group’s efforts, including in Myanmar. “The Vice President will also push larger countries to support ASEAN centrality, while also ensuring its adaptability in responding to current challenges,” vice presidential spokesperson Masduki Baidlowi said in a statement on Tuesday. Efforts to cement ASEAN’s position as the primary multilateral body in Southeast Asia continue to face steep challenges, with the region becoming increasingly attractive to large external powers seeking to win global influence in the past years. China’s rise to superpower status and its sweeping claims over the South China Sea, for example, have attracted the United States’ attention, which in recent years has increased its military presence in the region, inevitably raising tensions. ASEAN’s attempts to establish a home advantage amid increasing foreign interest has so far yielded mixed results. Read more at:
