Metro Manila, Philippines – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are expected to attend next week’s ASEAN ministerial meetings in Manila, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday, July 16.
DFA Assistant Secretary and ASEAN-Philippines National Secretariat spokesperson Dominic Xavier Imperial said both officials have confirmed their attendance at the week-long meetings.
“We have information that Secretary Rubio will attend. Also, Foreign Minister Lavrov will attend,” Imperial said during a briefing, referring to the top Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov.
He later confirmed that Wang will also be present.
Imperial said it remains up to each foreign minister which specific meetings they will attend.
The ASEAN ministerial meetings will include post-ministerial conferences with dialogue partners, the ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The meetings come amid heightened strategic competition between the US and China in the Indo-Pacific, including differences over the South China Sea.
Imperial said ASEAN expects the discussions to remain focused on cooperation rather than geopolitical rivalries.
“Everyone is committed to coming here in Manila and sitting with ASEAN and discussing the way forward or where we can cooperate,” he said.
He said bilateral issues among dialogue partners are managed separately and not expected to affect the regional bloc’s agenda.
“As regards their relations with ASEAN, what we see is there’s always the commitment to work together, so it does not impact at all what we’re supposed to discuss next week,” Imperial said.
Asked whether the Philippines expects tensions between Washington and Beijing to spill over into the meetings, Imperial said ASEAN’s existing mechanisms are designed to encourage dialogue.
“The framework is really putting everyone together in one room and having these candid, collaborative discussions rather than highlighting whatever it is that is impacting their relations bilaterally,” he said.
The Philippines will be hosting the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and related meetings from July 21 to 24 as this year’s ASEAN chairman.
The ministerial week will conclude with activities marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, including a signing ceremony for new accessions and a gala dinner hosted by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
