ASEAN Leaders Tackle Rohingya Crisis And Urge South China Sea Calm

Sydney, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2018 ) :Australia and its ASEAN neighbours vowed to boost defence ties while stressing the importance of non-militarisation in the disputed South China Sea Sunday at a summit where the "complex" Rohingya crisis took centre stage.

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, at the three-day meeting in Sydney, also agreed to work more closely to tackle the growing menace of violent extremism and radicalisation.

But while a final communique noted a resolve to "protect the human rights of our peoples", it failed to condemn member state Myanmar's treatment of the Muslim-minority Rohingya. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled the troubled Rakhine state for Bangladesh since authorities launched a brutal crackdown six months ago that the UN has called "ethnic cleansing".

Myanmar, whose de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Sydney, has vehemently denied the allegations. "We discussed the situation in Rakhine state at considerable length today," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at a closing press conference.

"Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the matter comprehensively, at some considerable length herself," he said. "It's a very complex problem ... Everyone seeks to end the suffering that has been occasioned by the events, the conflict." Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said the crisis was "a concern for all ASEAN countries, and yet ASEAN is not able to intervene to force an outcome".