South China Sea tensions and Myanmar violence top agenda for Southeast Asian envoys meeting in Laos

LUANG PRABANG, Laos (AP) — China’s growingly assertive posture in the South China Sea and escalating violence in Myanmar topped the agenda for Southeast Asian diplomats meeting in Laos on Monday.

The gathering is the first high-level meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations since Laos took over the rotating chairmanship.

The diplomats for the 10 nations with a combined population of nearly 650 million and GDP of more than $3 trillion will work to strategize on issues of regional peace, security and stability. They were also discussing economic cooperation and other issues under the year’s theme “enhancing connectivity and resilience.”

Of the ASEAN member nations, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and Laos, several have competing maritime claims in the South China Sea with China.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea, through which an estimated $5 trillion in international trade passes each year, which has led it into direct confrontations, most notably with the Philippines and Vietnam.

The ASEAN meeting in the historic city of Luang Prabang comes on the same day that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, was to be meeting with top officials in Hanoi, among other things to discuss the ongoing tensions in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has been looking for more support from its ASEAN neighbors, amid increasingly tense hostilities with China, primarily off of the Second Thomas Shoal, which many worry could escalate into a broader armed conflict that could involve Washington, Manila’s longtime treaty ally.

The Philippine government protested the Chinese coast guard’s use of water cannon, a military-grade laser and dangerous blocking