Indonesia's Jokowi seeks ASEAN unity as term winds down

MANILA -- Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's trip around Southeast Asia this week is part of efforts to ensure his country's policy of engagement with regional neighbors continues after he leaves office later this year, analysts say.

In the Philippines, on the first stop of his three-country tour, Jokowi and his counterpart President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pledged to bolster security ties, with a focus on creating a code of conduct in the South China Sea amid escalating maritime tensions.