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HANDSHAKE. ASEAN chair and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. shake hands with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul after a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu, on May 7, 2026.
Graphic by Marian Hukom/graphic from Presidential Communications Office
Sustained de-escalation of conflict in Southeast Asia is generally incremental, face-saving, and intentionally quiet
In an era where coercive diplomacy and geopolitical grandstanding are being used at an ever-increasing rate, the recent Cambodia-Thailand-Philippines trilateral in Cebu delivered something infinitely rarer: a quiet but credible effort at regional peacebuilding through the very mechanisms of the ASEAN.
