After summit joined by China, US and Russia, Indonesia's leader warns of protracted conflicts
abcnews.go.comIndonesia’s president has issued a stark warning after wrapping up a summit of Southeast Asian countries that was joined by China, the United States and Russia
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia's president issued a stark warning Thursday after wrapping up a summit of Southeast Asian countries that was joined by China, the United States and Russia, saying “we will be destroyed” unless conflicts are resolved.
The three-day summit by leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations along with Asian and Western counterparts in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta spotlighted major conflicts in Asia with calls for peaceful resolutions and restraint.
Myanmar's bloody civil strife and the South China Sea territorial disputes, which have dragged on without any solution in sight, figured high on the agenda.
Concerns were also raised over the U.S.-China rivalry in the region, although no ne was specifically called out as Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris were in attendance. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also took part.
«I can guarantee you, if we are not able to manage differences, we will be destroyed,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who led the 10-nation ASEAN this year, told a news conference after the summit talks.
»If we join the currents of rivalry, we will be destroyed,” he added.
Widodo, who turned over the leadership of the regional group to Laos during the Jakarta meetings, characterized ASEAN as a regional peacemaker — or a safe house — that the world sorely needs.
Founded in 1967 in the Cold War era, the ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Though long derided as a toothless talkshop, AESAN
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