The highlights this week: Southeast Asian countries voice concern over U.S. adventurism in Venezuela , the Malaysian prime minister promises restive voters reform , and Vietnam and Indonesia are turning to the police and military for development goals .
Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Southeast Asia Brief.
The highlights this week: Southeast Asian countries voice concern over U.S. adventurism in Venezuela, the Malaysian prime minister promises restive voters reform, and Vietnam and Indonesia are turning to the police and military for development goals.
Southeast Asia Worried by Maduro Seizure
The U.S. operation to snatch President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from Venezuela over the weekend has been greeted with near-universal dismay in Southeast Asia, including by U.S. allies.
Countries in the region have long emphasized noninterference in one another’s sovereign affairs and international law as key elements of regional peace. But as with elsewhere in the world, the specter of U.S. power, and President Donald Trump’s mercurial nature, may have muted some of the responses.
Malaysia, as on the issue of Palestine, has been the most outspoken critic of the United States. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called for the prompt release of Maduro and his wife.
Ibrahim said in a social media post on Sunday: “Whatever may be the reasons, the forcible removal of a sitting head of government through external action sets a dangerous precedent. It erodes fundamental restraints on the use of power between states and weakens the legal framework that underpins international order.”
Statements by Singapore and Indonesia on Sunday were only marginally
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