Context: Recently, the Indian External Affairs Minister attended the 13th East Asia Summit (EAS)  Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.

About East Asia Summit (EAS) 

• It is the Indo-Pacific’s premier forum for strategic dialogue. 
• Comprehensive mechanism: It is the only leader-led forum at which all key Indo-Pacific partners meet to discuss political, security and economic challenges facing the region, and has an important role to play in advancing closer regional cooperation.
• Member Countries: Ten ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) along with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States. 
• ASEAN leads the forum, and the chair position rotates between ASEAN Member States annually.
• SIgnificance: In 2022, EAS members represented 52.8 percent of the world’s population and accounted for 60.4 percent of global GDP.
• Major Outcome of Meeting: Participating counties expressed concerns over the situation in the South China Sea, mentioned the importance of the freedom of navigation and overflight, of the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, and of the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and expressed concerns over the increasing tensions.

About Taiwan Strait:

• The Taiwan Strait, also known as the Formosa Strait, is a 180 km wide strait separating Taiwan and mainland China.
• The strait currently links to the East China Sea to the north and is a portion of the South China Sea. 
• Asia’s continental shelf encompasses the entire strait.
• In the past, both Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) supported the One-China Policy, which viewed the Taiwan Strait as a portion of one “China”‘s exclusive economic zone.

Image Credit: The Economist

News Source: the HIndu