The 53rd ASEAN Foreign Minister’s Meeting (AMM-53) and related meetings kicked-off via video conference on Wednesday and was live-streamed on the ASEAN 2020 Vietnam Facebook page. Vietnam, this year’s chairman is hosting the talks.
The top diplomats from Southasia will be discussing the Coronavirus pandemic and the US-China rivalry in the South China Sea mainly this week after the meetings were delayed for over a month. Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called for regional solidarity and unity in the opening ceremony which was attended by a few diplomats in Hanoi.
Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung said earlier this week that the talks will focus on devising a regional response to the pandemic and to help member states recover economically which face the worst economic crisis in decades. One of the key projects is the establishment of a COVID-19 response fund to help ASEAN member states buy medical supplies and protective suits along with establishing an ASEAN centre on public health emergencies.
The meetings also hope to resolve the territorial disputes in the South China Sea involving China, Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam and the geopolitical tensions between China and the US involving the South China Sea.
