Vietnam hosts online ASEAN summit amid pandemic

Souast Asian leers are holding an annual summit Friday by online video to show unity and discuss a regional emergency fund amid immense crisis wrought by coronavirus pandemic but long-divisive South China Sea conflicts are also under spotlight.

leers of Association of Souast Asian Nations linked up online due to regional travel restrictions, which have delayed dozens of meetings and shut out ceremonial spectacles, group handshakes and photo-ops that have been tremark of 10-nation bloc's annual summits. Vietnam, current ASEAN chair, planned for face-to-face meetings, but most member states assessed it was still too risky for leers to travel.

Souast Asian nations have been impacted by coronavirus pandemic differently, with hard-hit Indonesia battling over 50,000 infections and over 2,600 deaths, and tiny socialist state of Laos reporting just 19 cases.

diverse region of 650 million people, however, has been an Asian COVID-19 hotspot, with a combined total of more than 138,000 infections that have well surpassed that of China, where new virus was first detected in December 2019.

ecomic toll has been severe, with ASEAN's leing ecomies, including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, heing for ir most severe recessions in deces.

"We recognized significant cost and unprecedented challenges to region and world caused by coronavirus disease pandemic," Vietnam says on behalf of ASEAN states in a draft communiqué to be issued after Friday's summit. "We ted with grave concern human and socio-ecomic costs caused by COVID-19 and remained committed to implementing targeted policies to instill confidence that ASEAN is at forefront of this critical battle."

A high-priority project would be establishment of an ASEAN "COVID-19 response fund," which could be used to help member states purchase medical supplies and protective suits. Thailand has pledged to contribute $100,000 and regional group's partners, including China, Japan and South Korea, were expected to anunce contributions after terms of fund were recently finalized, a senior Souast Asian diplomat told Associated Press.

A regional stockpile of medical supplies has also been proposed and group will undertake a study to be financed by Japan on possibility of establishing an ASEAN center on public health emergencies, said diplomat, who spoke on condition of anymity because of a lack of authority to speak publicly.

While conservative bloc has tried to project unity, it has been split by longstanding rivalries and disputes, particularly over territorial disputes in South China Sea that mainly involve four of its member states, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

China and Taiwan are also involved in long-seething conflicts in one of world's busiest waterways, which has been a crucial battleground for influence by Beijing and Washington.

long-unresolved disputes, along with plight of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar who are languishing in crowded refugee camps in neighboring Banglesh, are among most-thorny issues in ASEAN's nda.

China has come under fire for what rival claimant states say were aggressive actions in disputed waters while countries scrambled to deal with viral outbreaks. Vietnam protested in April that a Chinese coast guard ship rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat with eight fishermen off Paracel islands in April. Philippines backed Vietnam over incident and protested new territorial districts anunced by China in large swatches of disputed sea.

Washington also lashed at China, which denied accusations that it was exploiting intense preoccupation with pandemic to vance its territorial claims as "sheer nsense."