South East Asian nations summit opens in Thai capital

JAKARTA

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders opened a high-level meeting in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday on issues surrounding the region, such as disputes in the South China Sea and Rohingya ethnic refugees.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha made his first-ever appearance as a civilian leader after the election victory in March.

These countries are expected to be able to discuss the code of conduct (COC) in negotiating the issue of the South China Sea, one of the busiest routes in the world and a potential hotspot claimed by several members of ASEAN and also China.

However, it is not expected that there will be any significant progress, even though these countries may discuss incidents of Filipino and Chinese fishing boat collisions on June 9.

"It is very encouraging to see ASEAN-China talks about the COC continue," said Marty Natalegawa, Indonesia's former foreign minister.

"However, there is a real risk that developments on land -- or more precisely at sea -- far surpass COC's progress so that might make it irrelevant."

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has accepted China's proposal to jointly investigate allegations that Chinese fishing vessels left 22 Filipinos after their ship sank in the South China Sea, his spokesman said on Saturday.

Rights groups also called on ASEAN leaders to rethink support for plans to repatriate Rohingya Muslims because they could again face discrimination and persecution.

More than 700,000 Rohingya crossed into Bangladesh in 2017, according to UN agencies, after a crackdown by the Myanmar military.

It is unlikely that there will be criticism of Myanmar at the Rohingya summit, said Prapat Thepchatree, a political science professor at Thammasat University in Thailand.

"This problem is very sensitive for ASEAN," he said.

- Protests and controversy

The Thai host mobilized around 10,000 security forces around Bangkok to secure the summit, given a decade ago when Thailand last hosted an ASEAN summit and dozens of protesters loyal to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra forced their way into the meeting place.

But on Saturday morning, only a small group of people planned a demonstration to call Prayut's election a product of a fraudulent system.

The group, called Citizens Wanting Elections, was stopped by the police before reaching the location of the meeting. They issued a statement that welcomed the visiting ASEAN leaders but criticized Prayut.

"The person who served as President of ASEAN, who welcomed everyone today, did not come from a clean and fair election," according to the statement.

The United Nations envoy, in a letter to Vietnam and Thailand, raised suspicions about "enforced disappearance" and expressed "serious concern".

Human rights activists have criticized what they call increased cooperation in the forced repatriation of refugees and asylum seekers.

Since last year, Amnesty International said, there have been at least eight cases of Southeast Asian governments accused of formally arresting, or cooperating in kidnapping, political refugees from ASEAN countries.

"A number of countries in the region trade political dissidents and people who have fled persecution as part of an unholy alliance to support the regime with each other," said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International's director for East and Southeast Asia.

Thailand has declined to comment on complaints from rights groups.

"We have no information about these cases," said a spokesman for the Thai Foreign Ministry.

Thailand was once considered a haven for activists who fled oppression from an authoritarian government.

But since the military coup in 2014, Thailand has called for the return of its own political opponents from neighboring countries -- and has also fulfilled similar requests from them, critics said.

Last month, Malaysia arrested and sent home an anti-monarchy Thai campaigner after he was registered as an asylum seeker at the UN refugee agency.

The woman, Praphan Pipithnamporn, is awaiting trial on charges of incitement and organized crime in Thailand.

Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad defended extradition, saying his country was a "good neighbor".