This commitment was made at the 7th ASEAN-U.S. Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting held at the ASEAN secretariat last week.
This is the first JCC to be held since the elevation of the Asean-U.S. partnership to a strategic level in November 2015 and the successful convening of the ASEAN-U.S. special leaders’ summit in Sunnylands, California last February.
The meeting took stock of the cooperation under the plan of action to implement the ASEAN-U.S. strategic partnership (POA) 2016-2020 and noted the positive achievements made in the first four months of this year.
Both sides also reaffirmed key principles in guiding the cooperation, including upholding the principles of international law as well as the respect and support for ASEAN centrality and ASEAN-LED mechanisms.
The U.S. highlighted their support for the continued development of a rules-based regional architecture in the Asia-Pacific.