- Title: ASEAN-MALAYSIA/ARF RETREAT Ministers of ASEAN Regional Forum meet in Malaysia
- Date: 6th August 2015
- Summary: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (AUGUST 6, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY WALKING AND SITTING AT MEETING NEW ZEALAND MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS MURRAY MCCULLY LISTENING TO OFFICIAL MEDIA FLAGS OF REPRESENTING COUNTRIES IN ROOM OFFICIALS AND DELEGATES WALKING MEETING ROOM VARIOUS OF KERRY SPEAKING TO EUROPEAN
- Embargoed: 21st August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Malaysia
- Country: Malaysia
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA5AHUN7V1ELR378C9EF080RTPX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The foreign ministers representing ASEAN group of Southeast Asian nations met on Thursday (August 6) with counterparts from some other representing nations during a ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) retreat.
Top diplomats from China, Russia, Japan, India, Australia, the European Union and Southeast Asia among others met in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia is the 2015 rotating chair for ASEAN, the regional bloc of 600 million people.
Key issues relating to the region are expected to be discussed, including the disputed South China Sea, though the issue was not on the official agenda. However, expectations were high that it would be discussed against a backdrop of increasing tensions and overlapping claims in the potentially energy-rich South China Sea.
The United States, worried about China's increasing assertiveness in the region, is expected to repeat a call for Beijing to halt land reclamation on islands in disputed waters.
Neither the United States nor China are members of ASEAN but have been invited to participate alongside other countries outside the group.
A draft of the joint statement to be issued at the end of the ASEAN meeting, seen by Reuters, said leaders were concerned with recent developments "which have the potential to undermine peace, security and stability in the South China Sea."
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, and rejects the rival claims of Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.
ASEAN members includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None