Southeast Asian leaders have gathered in the Philippines to coordinate a joint response to the fallout from the war on Iran, which has prompted a surge in energy prices across the region.
\nSpeaking at the opening of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathering on Friday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the United States-Israeli war on Iran had been felt \u201cthrough higher living costs\u201d and \u201cthreatened livelihoods\u201d both in \u201cour homelands and amongst our nationals in the Middle East\u201d.
\nMarcos said ASEAN, an 11-member bloc that includes the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia, should \u201cstrengthen coordination\u201d and \u201cpursue practical collective measures to safeguard a stable energy supply and improve interconnectivity\u201d.
\nSoutheast Asia has been among the regions hardest hit by the conflict and Iran\u2019s effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, which has blocked a large portion of the region\u2019s supply of oil and natural gas.
\nASEAN, whose members represent more than 700 million people, is set to issue a joint statement calling for the reopening of the strait and improved crisis communication and coordination, according to a leaked draft seen by multiple media outlets, including The Associated Press and Channel News Asia.
\nThe bloc\u2019s statement will also focus on how member countries can work together on energy and food security, according to the draft.
\nThe Philippines has been pushing for ASEAN members to sign a voluntary energy-sharing agreement to shoulder supply disruptions such as those related to the Iran war, as well as advocating for the establishment of an ASEAN power grid to integrate the region\u2019s electricity networks by 2045.
\nManila declared a national emergency in March amid energy shortages linked to the war, while countries including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia have imposed a range of energy-saving measures such as price caps and work-from-home schemes.
\nPetrochemical companies in Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore have also declared force majeure to relieve themselves of liability for their contracts due to forces beyond their control.
\nTan Hsien-Li, an expert on ASEAN at NUS Law School in Singapore, said she expects the bloc to push for more economic cooperation internally and with \u201cdialogue partners or like-minded regional organisations in Latin America or the Asia-Pacific\u201d.
\nTan said she expects to see more \u201csubstantive outcomes\u201d than is typical of ASEAN summits.
\n\u201cHopefully, greater implementation of existing cooperation agreements pertaining to the ASEAN Economic Community, as well as decisive action regarding the ASEAN Power Grid and the ASEAN Digital Economic Framework Agreement that is still being negotiated,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.
\nASEAN\u2019s joint statement is also likely to stress the importance of international law, national sovereignty, and freedom of navigation, according to the draft.
\nMany ASEAN members share concerns about China\u2019s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea, which, like the Strait of Hormuz, is an important waterway for international trade.
\nBoth China and the United States and its allies held military drills in the waterway in the days leading up to the summit, highlighting the body\u2019s flashpoint status amid multiple states\u2019 overlapping territorial claims.
\nASEAN, which has a longstanding policy of noninterference in members\u2019 affairs, has faced criticism for its limited power and influence.
\nAfter deadly border clashes, Cambodia and Thailand signed a peace deal on the sidelines of October\u2019s ASEAN summit in Malaysia, in a ceremony presided over by US President Donald Trump.
\nDespite the agreement, the countries clashed again in December before reaching a second ceasefire agreement late that month.
\nAhead of the ASEAN gathering, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Thursday pledged to continue dialogue and allow an observer team access to their border, but the leaders did not announce any resolution of the decades-old dispute.
\n#ASEANSummit #IranWar #EnergyCrisis #SoutheastAsia #StraitOfHormuz #RegionalCooperation #EnergySecurity #Philippines #InternationalRelations #Geopolitics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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