JAKARTA — A change to the way that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) engages with Myanmar will improve the effectiveness of the grouping's dealings with the crisis-stricken country, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.

With the past, present and upcoming chairs of the bloc working together to engage parties in Myanmar, there will also be a “certain continuity and renewal” as the Asean chairmanship is rotated every year by alphabetical order.

He was speaking to Singapore reporters on Thursday (Sept 7) at the end of a three-day visit to Jakarta, Indonesia to attend Asean and related summits, where Myanmar was a “difficult subject” discussed by the grouping.

Following a 2021 coup that returned Myanmar to military rule, a civil war between the military and the anti-military groups in the country has claimed thousands of lives. 

Myanmar has also been frozen out of Asean. Although a non-political representative can still attend the summit, Myanmar has remained unrepresented since the coup.

Southeast Asian leaders agreed on Tuesday to set up a “troika mechanism”, which will comprise the immediate past, current and incoming Asean chairs to engage Myanmar, and bring closer to fruition the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus, an agreement among the bloc, including Myanmar, on how to tackle the crisis in the country.

“I think they will work together as a group and together, will engage the parties (in Myanmar),” Mr Lee said. 

“We do want to engage the parties in Myanmar, we would like to encourage them, nudge them in a constructive direction to encourage them to talk to one another. And to work out a solution which will work for Myanmar.”

The Asean chair is required to actively promote and enhance the interests and well-being of the grouping, and to chair summit meetings among its leaders as well as with those of other partner countries, among other things.

The past Asean chairs — Brunei in 2021 and Cambodia in 2022 — had individually shouldered the responsibility of engaging Myanmar, but the bloc has been criticised for a lack of progress in implementing the peace plan. 

The current chair, Indonesia, has been engaging in quiet diplomacy with Myanmar in hopes of better engaging all sides involved in the crisis.

Indonesia's foreign minister said in May that it has held more than 60 engagements related to the Myanmar crisis this year.

However, there still remain criticisms that progress has been slow. 

Mr Lee said that having the past, present and upcoming chairs work together, rather than individually, will improve the effectiveness of the engagement with Myanmar. 

“The reporting back to Asean members will be more systematic, and the engagement with three members... hopefully, more can be done,” he said. “That part will definitely make a difference.” 

Mr Lee acknowledged that little can be done to immediately change the situation in Myanmar. 

“As for how it will be able to cause the violence to stop, to cause solutions to be worked out, to cause humanitarian aid to flow better — those are consequential results, which we hope with better engagement in due course, that will come about,” he said. 

“But I think it will take time.” 

On Tuesday, Mr Lee had called for a full implementation of the Five-Point Consensus, and to maintain Myanmar’s non-political representation at the Asean summits and foreign ministers’ meetings.

Mr Lee said on Thursday that the talks about Myanmar during the summit had also settled the question of Asean chairmanship in 2026.

“Because if you just go on autopilot, then Myanmar is supposed to be the chair come 2026, but Myanmar may or may not be in a position to be the chair by 2026,” he added.

He noted that instead, the Philippines will move its term forward and take up the chairmanship in 2026, and Myanmar will do so “when they are ready”. 

He added that the decisions at the summit regarding Myanmar are “useful moves”.

“It won't solve the situation in Myanmar, but it will help us to manage Asean's response to the problem better.” 

DIGITAL AND GREEN ECONOMY, ASEAN’S ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

In his media interview, Mr Lee also touched on the importance of economic cooperation, especially in digital and green economies. 

He noted that Asean had embarked on the Digital Economy Framework Agreement, which seeks to accelerate digital trade within the region. 

“Negotiation within Asean... if it's done well, has a lot of promise because the digital economy is one of the vibrant areas in many of the Asean countries,” Mr Lee said.

“And if we can work together, I think the dividends are considerable.” 

On the green economy, Mr Lee said that Asean leaders had spoken about the Asean Power Grid, an initiative to construct a regional power interconnection for the region, as well as sustainable energy.

He added that sustainable energy is a “promising area” because many Asean countries, including Singapore and Indonesia, have net zero targets. 

“And to get to a net zero target, Asean needs to work together. And to have an Asean Power Grid is an essential element of sharing renewable energy resources.”

This is because renewable energy such as that depending on wind or solar power is intermittent and dependent on weather conditions, for instance. 

“You need to have backup against intermittency, and that means you need a grid, and that means you need investments,” Mr Lee said. 

He also responded to a question from the media about the outlook on the Asean economy.

Asean is in a “bright spot” at a time when the world economy is “not that vibrant”, he replied. 

“Asean is expecting about 4 per cent growth this year, and it's not bad.”

He said that Singapore’s growth forecast of 1 per cent is slower because it is experiencing “a developed economy rate of growth”.

“And even in a normal year, in a good year, we'd be talking about 2.5 per cent, 3 per cent (being) a very, very good year. So for us, 1 per cent is slow,” he added.

“There's some sluggishness in the economy, we don't think that we are going to a recession this year. But what happens next year, we're not sure yet.”

SOUTH CHINA SEA CODE OF CONDUCT A 'DIFFICULT TASK' 

Asked about the talks between Asean and China on the South China Sea Code of Conduct, Mr Lee said that it is a “very difficult task” to negotiate such a code. 

Asean and China have been negotiating a code of conduct on the dispute in the South China Sea for some years, but talks had fallen behind schedule and the parties had already missed a 2022 target to reach an agreement.

On Wednesday, Mr Lee had raised the issue of the South China Sea Code of Conduct in both the Asean-United States Summit, where US Vice-President Kamala Harris was present, and at the Asean-China Summit, where Chinese Premier Li Qiang was present. 

Mr Lee noted on Thursday that there is already a Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which had been signed by China and the members of Asean in 2002. 

He asked: “So in what way is a code of conduct going to be different? Is it going to be binding or not? What areas is it going to cover? How do you enforce it? Is there a dispute resolution? 

“These are substantive issues, and I don't see us reaching agreement on them very, very soon.” 

He added that “some progress” has been made, but it is still important for the parties involved to “work hard at it”. While progress is slow, it is still better to be talking about the “positive agenda” on the South China Sea. 

In the event of “untoward developments”, there is at least a basis for the parties involved to “talk to each other and to work things out”. 

“Rather than to say we have no solution, just leave things be and then something goes wrong, and then you have no channel to communicate, and things get worse,” he continued. 

“I think on that basis, let's give it our best effort.” 

Before speaking to the media on Thursday, Mr Lee had attended the 20th Asean-India Summit, the 18th East Asia Summit and the third Asean-Australia Summit.

The East Asia Summit comprises 18 participating countries, including the 10 Asean member states as well as Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the US.

Mr Lee said at the summit that global tensions, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and fraught US-China relations, have negatively affected cooperation at the East Asia Summit, and that in such troubled times, it is “all the more important that we find common ground and project a credible, collective voice”. 

Mr Lee also held a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday, where the leaders discussed further collaboration between the two countries, including in areas such as trade, digital and the green economies.

They also exchanged views on regional and international developments.

Mr Lee will return to Singapore on Thursday evening.