Protectionism, North Korea nukes in focus at ASEAN summit

Bloomberg

Southeast Asian nations and Australia vowed to unite against protectionism, while also using a summit in Sydney to urge North Korea to denuclearise immediately. “We are committed to free and open markets,” the final communique from the first Australia-Asean Special Summit, held in Sydney, said on Sunday. They pledged to resist “all forms of protectionism.”
Global markets were rattled earlier this month after Gary Cohn resigned as President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser following the announcement of tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminum.
Bloomberg Economics estimates a full-blown global trade war could wipe $470 billion off global gross domestic product by 2020.
On North Korea, Asean and Australia agreed that the nation’s nuc-lear and ballistic missile programs were a threat to the region and urged “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula.”
With concern about North Korea’s nuclear program rising, US President Donald Trump signaled he will agree to meet with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un within months to solve the long-brewing stand off.
“We are cautiously encouraged by these developments,” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told reporters after the summit. “We hope these recent steps will contribute
towards lasting peace and stability.”
Asean and Australia emphasised the importance on non-militarisation in the region, and called for an early conclusion of an effective code of conduct in the South China Sea. The US has criticised China for land reclamation and other moves to assert control over areas also claimed in part by Southeast Asian countries.
During the Summit, Australia and Asean signed an agreement to enhance intelligence sharing and
disrupt terrorists’ ability to communicate through digital messaging. It comes as concerns grow throughout Southeast Asia about the influence
of IS-inspired terrorists returning from the Middle East, with Indonesia and Philippines seen by experts as vulnerable to attack.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told the summit the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state was creating a recruiting ground for IS. It’s now a security threat to Southeast Asia and can no longer be thought of as a domestic matter, he said.
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi will meet Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday. Turnbull confirmed the Summit leaders discussed the matter of the ethnic
violence with her on Sunday. “It’s a very complex problem,” Turnbull told reporters, adding it was a humanitarian disaster. “Everyone seeks to end the suffering that has been occasioned by the events, the conflict, the dislocation.”