At ASEAN summit, Australia grants new funds to Southeast Asia maritime projects

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Australia on Monday announced new funding for maritime partnerships in Southeast Asia as Canberra hosts a special summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Australian government will invest $64 million over the next four years, including $40 million in new funding, to “enhance Australia's Southeast Asia maritime partnerships.”

The announcement came as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is hosting at least nine ASEAN leaders – the biggest diplomatic gathering of world leaders in Australia since 2018 – in Melbourne to discuss, among other things, economy and security.

Disputes in the South China Sea are also expected to feature during the summit which concludes on Wednesday.

The new commitment in funding “will expand Australia's maritime cooperation with regional partners and contribute to the security and prosperity of the region, consistent with the priorities of Southeast Asian countries,” said Wong in a statement.

As part of the summit, Wong addressed the Maritime Cooperation Forum.

ASEAN and Australia are commemorating 50 years of relations as Canberra is the Southeast Asian regional bloc’s oldest official dialogue partner.

"We share a region and we share a future, and the Special Summit is about working together to shape our future for the better," Wong said after having a bilateral meeting with her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi.

- Philippines for turning disputed waters into sea of peace

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Manila will not budge on its sovereign rights in the South China Sea, which it calls the West Philippines Sea.

“Illegal actions continue to infringe on our sovereignty,” Marcos told an event hosted by the Lowy Institute think tank.

Calling for turning the disputed waters into a sea of peace and stability, Marcos said the Philippines was still facing “serious difficulties” at the sea, referring to overlapping maritime claims by China.

“We shall never surrender even a square inch of our territory and our maritime jurisdiction,” Marcos stressed, reiterating Manila will continue to engage Beijing through dialogue and diplomacy.

“In this regard, we are upgrading capabilities of our coastguard, pursuing modernization of our armed forces,” he said about tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea.

On the so-called great power rivalry in the wider Asia-Pacific region, Marcos called on China and the US to “engage in meaningful dialogue to maintain strategic stability and to limit any nuclear arms build-up.”