ASEAN summit starts with focus on peace, prosperity

Indonesian President Joko Widodo officially opened the 43rd Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by stressing that the regional bloc won't serve as a proxy for any global power.

"We are aware that the world is not in a so good condition. Future challenges are becoming bigger and bigger, which leads to scrambling of influences by big powers," Widodo said on Tuesday. "But ASEAN has agreed to not become a proxy for whatever power. It wants to work together with any party for world peace and prosperity."

Widodo is this year's rotating chairperson of the 10-member regional bloc. Timor-Leste is expected to become the 11th member.

Widodo said that ASEAN cannot stand alone in facing global challenges and needs to work together with its dialogue partners.

"ASEAN, as a big ship, has a big responsibility to hundreds of millions of people who sail with us. Although we have to sail in high waves, we, as state leaders of ASEAN, must ensure that our ship can keep sailing well and we drive it toward peace, stability and prosperity," Widodo said.

ASEAN leaders will hold an East Asia Summit later this week. This is a wider forum that includes dialogue partners China, India, Japan, Russia and the United States.

"Let us work together to realize equal and mutually beneficial cooperation for sailing together toward the epicenter of growth," he said, alluding to this year's summit theme "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth".

During the next three days, leaders of ASEAN member states are expected to discuss issues that would chart the future of ASEAN as a community and an institution.

This includes steps to speed up the decision-making in crises and emergencies, as well as steps to bolster ASEAN's capacity to respond to emerging challenges in the region.

Aloysius Lele Madja, senior lecturer on international relations at the London School of Public Relations in Jakarta, said: "Indonesia does not side with any party." Southeast Asia's biggest economy will partner with any country that brings benefits, he said.

Widodo also emphasized the region's unity even amid diversity in his speech, saying ASEAN has managed to preserve its unity through the years.

"Unity should not be taken that there is no difference of opinion," Widodo said. He has alluded to Indonesia's motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, or Unity in Diversity, noting that while Indonesia has diverse ethnic groups, languages, and religions, the country has managed to remain united, creating harmony even amid differences.

Aleksius Jemadu, professor of international political science at Pelita Harapan University in Banten, said member countries prioritize pragmatism when it comes to ASEAN unity.

He said one of ASEAN's main challenges is how to maintain its solidarity amid competing national interests.

ASEAN as a group is among the world's economic drivers with faster-than-average growth rates and has increasingly gained significance despite a comparative slowdown in the first half of the year.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Leonardus Jegho is a freelance journalist for China Daily.