ASEAN alarmed over Gaza casualties, dire humanitarian situation
3 Min Read
In the same communiqué, it praises the measures to reduce tension in the South China Sea, without naming the practices, meant to prevent accidents and miscalculations.
-
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, center, attends the ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Saturday, July 27, 2024. (AP)
The ASEAN summit expressed concern regarding the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and the "alarming casualties".
It furthermore urged all parties to work toward a "peace process" with the view of realizing a "two-state" solution, the economic union said in a joint communiqué issued two days after closed-doors meetings in Laos.
#BREAKING | ASEAN communique: We urge all parties to work toward peace with view of realizing "two-state" solution
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 27, 2024
This follows a statement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the United States was "working intensely every single day" to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and establish a path to ensure long-term peace and security during the ASEAN meeting.
Moreover, he made these comments in response to Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who stated that there was an urgent need for enduring peace.
"We cannot continue closing our eyes to see the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza," she said at the meeting.
In the same communiqué, the ASEAN group praised the measures to reduce tension in the South China Sea, without naming the practices, meant to prevent accidents and miscalculations.
It further described the DPRK's missile tests as a "concern", and it then called for the implementation of peaceful resolutions to the war in Ukraine.
Guidelines for the use of US nuclear assets on the Korean peninsula, according to Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the ASEAN meeting, will undoubtedly raise further issues related to regional security.
South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that Lavrov expressed concern about Russia because he had not been told about the specifics of the proposal.
He was reported by Russia's state-run RIA news agency as stating, "So far we can't even get an explanation of what this means, but there is no doubt that it causes additional anxiety."
Read next: Australia, ASEAN call for 'immediate, durable' ceasefire in Gaza
CIA Director William Burns is scheduled to meet with officials from "Israel," Qatar, and Egypt in Italy's Rome to finalize the proposed ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement for Gaza, Axios reported on Friday, citing US and Israeli officials.
The meeting will focus on devising a strategy to advance the negotiations for a ceasefire and exchange deal, the report mentioned, noting, however, that there will be no discussions on the remaining unresolved issues.
"[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu wants a deal that is impossible to get. At the moment, he isn't willing to move and therefore we might be headed for a crisis in the negotiations rather than a deal," an Israeli official said.
On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris expressed to Netanyahu her "serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians" during their meeting.
