Nay Pyi Taw, (Antara Babel) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhohyono underlined the importance of setting up the ASEAN Political and Security Community to address regional security threats in the future, both in Southeast Asia, East Asia and globally.
"The ASEAN Political and Security Community will enhance the joint capacity to address security challenges. We (ASEAN) will be able to create a common stance to maintain peace, response security and political challenge in harmony with international law and without using military action," the president said in a plenary session of the 24th ASEAN Summit here on Sunday.
The 24th ASEAN Summit was officially opened by Myanmarese President Thein Sein at the Myanmar International Convention Center (MICC) on Sunday.
According to Yudhoyono, through the ASEAN Political and Security Community, the conflict potentials of the South China Sea can be resolved better.
In addition, the ASEAN can also contribute positively to the settlement of other security challenges such as the disputes in East Asia involving China and Japan and the two Koreas, he stated.
"Through the ASEAN cooperation, we have been able to realize a peaceful and stable region. In the last ten years, we have been able to push changes of the ASEAN from an association into a community," the president said, noting that it was a historic step given the ASEAN Community will become a community with one vision and one identity.
ASEAN has been set to become an ASEAN Community in 2015 consisting of three ASEAN pillars namely the Political and Security, Socio-Cultural Community and the Economic Community.
On Saturday (May 9), the ASEAN foreign ministers in their joint statement expressed a serious concern related to the development in the South China Sea that have raised tensions in the region.
The ASEAN foreign ministers comprising Brunei Pehin Dato Lim Jock Seng, Cambodia HOR Namhong, Indonesia Marty Natalegawa, Laos Thongloun Sisouth, Malaysia Anfah Aman, The Philippines Albert F. Del Rosario, Singapore K. Shanmugam, representative of Thailand Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Vietnam Pham Binh Minh, urged all parties involved - in line with the principles of international law recognized universally, including the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 - to exercise restraint and avoid any action that could undermine peace and stability in the region.
The foreign ministers also requested that settlement of the dispute could be done by peaceful means without resorting to threats or violence.
Overlapping claims among Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei which are members of ASEAN with China related to the South China Sea have raised tensions in the region.
The South China Sea issue has become a chore for more than a decade especially for some of the ASEAN countries, and ASEAN members in general.
ASEAN which was established in 1967 comprising Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
