Just days before US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrive here for the East Asia Summit (EAS), Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa on Wednesday said the 10-member Asean bloc intended to introduce a “code of conduct” that it wanted EAS countries to adhere to in the region.
“We do not wish to see our region be subject to a damaging and negative competition among the bigger countries, (but this) must be grounded on realities and idealism based on pragmatism. It is not possible to wish away the influence of bigger (non-Asean) countries, but we can have some kind of code of conduct, some kind of certain norms, within which countries conduct or carry on their activities within our region,” Natalegawa said.
Tensions in Southeast Asia have risen in recent months over Beijing’s increasing posturing in the South China Sea, a vital shipping route that also contains vast energy resources, prompting some Asean member countries to turn towards the US.
Washington, on its part, has indicated it takes its role in the region seriously, and Obama on Wednesday said the US would increase its presence in Australia. In particular, the US will undertake the deployment of troops in the northern Australian city of Darwin, that lies across the Timor Sea from Indonesia. This is a move that is unlikely to go down well with the Chinese.
“Indonesia has proposed what we call the ‘Bali Principles’ on the conduct of mutually beneficial relations among EAS countries. We foresee the application of 12 or 13 principles, based on which countries in East Asia will conduct themselves,” said Natalegawa.
The Bali Principles were likely to contain clauses that involved the renunciation of the use of force and the primacy of peaceful settlement, he explained, in line with the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia that non-Asean states sign to show agreement with the basic principles of the organisation.
“I’m not pessimistic. I know, for example, some have asked if opening up the EAS to Russia and the US, whether we are going to lose the sense of centrality of Asean. But on the contrary, I think we have a far better chance now than before of having some kind of a regime to govern the behaviour or conduct of these bigger countries because they are now part of the norm-setting situation,” added Natalegawa.
The EAS consists of the 10 Asean member states, along with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the US.
