ASEAN and its Asian and Western partners will begin three days of summit meetings in Manila this Sunday. Ahead of the summit, ASEAN foreign ministers met to discuss challenges facing the region, including climate change, transboundary haze, online scams and the situation in Myanmar.
At their meeting on Saturday (14 November), the foreign ministers reaffirmed their commitment to working together amid global turbulence to deepen ASEAN integration, strengthen collective resilience and safeguard the region’s future.
Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in a Facebook post that day that the region’s hard-won peace and prosperity must never be taken for granted. “ASEAN has helped us navigate differences, build trust, and find common ground. These strengths will be even more important as geopolitical uncertainties grow.”
On the sidelines of the meeting, Dr Balakrishnan met Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan and Indonesian Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Christiawan Nasir. They exchanged views on regional developments and ways to strengthen cooperation among their three countries and within ASEAN.
The foreign ministers also welcomed the formal accession of Cyprus, Slovakia and Slovenia to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, bringing the number of contracting parties to 65.
On Myanmar, Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, who serves as ASEAN’s special envoy on Myanmar, told a press conference that ASEAN had not softened its stance on the country under the Five-Point Consensus peace plan.
ASEAN adopted the Five-Point Consensus following Myanmar’s military coup in 2021. It calls for an immediate end to violence, constructive dialogue among all parties in Myanmar, ASEAN mediation and humanitarian assistance. ASEAN has faced growing pressure in recent years, with some member states calling for an easing of the ban on Myanmar’s military-backed leaders attending high-level ASEAN meetings.
Lazaro, who visited Myanmar last month, said a draft review of the Five-Point Consensus was still under discussion, and that several recommendations would be submitted to ASEAN leaders for consideration.
Meanwhile, according to a draft summit communiqué seen by US media, the meeting will focus on calls for peaceful resolutions to disputes in the South China Sea, internal conflict in Myanmar, and the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. The draft reaffirms the countries’ commitment to upholding international law, including the United Nations Charter, and stresses the importance of the peaceful settlement of disputes, freedom of navigation and overflight, and lawful uses of the seas.
ASEAN and leaders of partner countries, including the US and China, will also express grave concern at the East Asia Summit over the growing threat of online scams.
In the draft, countries say that, alongside information sharing and stronger law enforcement coordination, they encourage the “sharing of threat assessments and best practices” and greater cooperation with relevant agencies to crack down on scam centres.
Leaders will also stress the need to address the underlying drivers of online scams and other contributing factors, such as poverty, a lack of social protection interventions, outdated domestic laws, inadequate coordination between the public and private sectors, corruption and limited economic opportunities.
