Malaysia is hoping for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to reach a clear consensus soon regarding AUKUS, a new Indo-Pacific security partnership signed between Australia, the United States (US), and the United Kingdom (UK).
Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told parliament on Tuesday that the ASEAN meeting next month presents an opportunity for the grouping to agree on a joint response to the defence deal.
“Our endgame as always is to ensure the region’s stability, regardless of the balance of powers (between) the US or China...An understanding at ASEAN will help us in facing these two major powers,” he said.
Last month, the three Western powers announced a new trilateral security partnership to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region. The deal allows Australia to build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines, the technology for which will be shared by the UK and the US for the first time.
The deal received an ambivalent response from Southeast Asian countries, as it is expected to directly impact their regional waters. Moreover, they fear that the deal opens up the prospect of acquiring nuclear weapons in the future, especially since Australia is not a signatory to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Indonesia and Malaysia have come out strongly against the partnership and Singapore has expressed concern that the deal with trigger an arms race in the already volatile Indo-Pacific. The Philippines, though, has expressed support for the deal.
Last month, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob expressed his apprehensions that the trilateral deal would “provoke other powers to act more aggressively in the region, especially in the South China Sea.” “As a country within ASEAN, Malaysia holds the principle of maintaining ASEAN as a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality,” he said.
Malaysia has also indicated seeking further consensus with China on how to react jointly if Australia, the US, and the UK make moves that could jeopardise regional peace and stability.
China has already voiced its concerns about the deal by calling it “extremely irresponsible.” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, “[Australia, the US, and the UK] should abandon the obsolete cold war zero-sum mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical concepts and respect regional people’s aspiration and do more that is conducive to regional peace and stability and development – otherwise they will only end up hurting their own interests”.
However, all three AUKUS signatories have brushed off these concerns by stating that the partnership is “not intended to be adversarial” toward China and does not pose a threat to Indo-Pacific security
Malaysia Seeks ASEAN Consensus on Impact of AUKUS on Indo-Pacific
The deal has received an ambivalent response from Southeast Asian countries, as it is expected to directly impact their regional waters.
October 13, 2021
SOURCE: THAI PBS WORLD