Watch as Association of Southeast Asian Nations concludes Indonesia summit

Oliver Browning
Thursday 07 September 2023 10:52 BST
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Watch as Indonesia concludes the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit.

A handover ceremony of the Asean chairmanship to Laos is expected on Thursday 7 September, following recent criticism that has mounted on members for failing to reach a consensus on key issues in the regions, including the South China Sea and strife-torn Myanmar.

The Asian bloc has been decried by critics as a “toothless talking shop” for its failure to get Myanmar’s ruling military to make progress on the controversial five-point peace plan.

For decades, the bloc has operated under the principle of not interfering in each other’s internal affairs and reaching an agreement by consensus, but that has left it struggling to press the generals in Myanmar beyond barring them from its high-level meetings.

Indonesian president Joko Widodo had asked for unity and cooperation “for peace and prosperity” in the region, but according to reports, the peace plan to end the violence remained stuck.

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