MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Southeast Asia’s top diplomats will express alarm over renewed hostilities in the Middle East and call for the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz when they gather in the Philippine capital Tuesday for talks with Western and Asian counterparts. Iran and some of the world’s most intractable conflicts will be high in the agenda of the annual talks held by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and hosted by the Philippines, the 11-nation bloc’s current chair. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are among the attendees. Ukraine’s top diplomat, Andrii Sybiha, has been invited to attend a Friday ceremony commemorating a 1976 nonaggression treaty of ASEAN, but will not be participating in the ASEAN meetings attended by Lavrov and Rubio. Rubio and Lavrov have not announced any plans to meet each other or Sybiha while they are in Manila.
Iran war is among ASEAN’s top concernsSoutheast Asia, a bustling region of more than 680 million people, relies heavily on Middle East oil and gas and was severely hit by the global supply and price shocks sparked by the Iran war. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a national energy emergency in March to ensure the availability of fuel, food and other basic goods and prevent hoarding and profiteering.
