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ASEAN meets in Cebu
Southeast Asian leaders gathered in the Philippines on Friday for the 48th ASEAN summit in Cebu to address challenges from the US-Israel war with Iran and subsequent Iranian retaliatory attacks, with ASEAN expressing "serious concern" over the escalation of conflict.
“ASEAN expressed "serious concern" over the escalation of conflict”
Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. told leaders that "We stand together today to demonstrate ASEAN's capacity to respond with unity, with wisdom, with resolve" as the Middle East situation threatened "lifestyles, livelihoods, and lives."
Marcos said the escalation had disrupted maritime and air transport routes, heightened risks to merchant and non-combatant vessels and aircraft, and affected the flow of energy and essential goods.
The summit focused on easing Iran war impacts on energy supplies, with DW saying Southeast Asian nations are reliant on oil and LNG imports via the Strait of Hormuz, which was blockaded by both Iran and the US for weeks.
DW also said the disruption had caused fuel and electricity prices to soar, while rising fertilizer costs were impacting food prices, as ASEAN leaders sought a coordinated response in Cebu.
Energy fallout and quotes
At the opening of the ASEAN gathering on Friday, Marcos said the US-Israeli war on Iran had been felt “through higher living costs” and “threatened livelihoods” both in “our homelands and amongst our nationals in the Middle East.”
Al Jazeera reported that ASEAN, whose members represent more than 700 million people, was 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.
The Diplomat said Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, chairing the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Cebu, warned that the ongoing conflict in Iran had disrupted energy flows, trade routes, and food supply chains within the 11-nation bloc.
Lazaro also said the crisis had disrupted sectors including transportation and tourism while putting millions of ASEAN nationals in West Asia at risk, and she called for a joint regional response, adding, “ASEAN needs to strengthen our crisis coordination and institutional readiness.”
The Diplomat further said Lazaro described ASEAN imports about 66 percent of its crude oil and faced a rise in fuel and energy costs that would force up prices of food and other essential goods.
What’s at stake next
ASEAN leaders also tied their summit agenda to concrete energy-security planning, with DW describing a draft joint declaration that included plans for a regional power grid, diversifying crude oil sources, boosting the use of electric vehicles and of renewables, including civilian nuclear energy.
“pursue practical collective measures to safeguard a stable energy supply and improve interconnectivity”
The Edge Malaysia said economic ministers in Cebu on Thursday "identified practical, concrete response measures" on strengthening energy and food security and committed to intensify coordination, while the Philippines pushed to expedite approval of a regional oil-sharing framework agreement.
The Diplomat said Lazaro warned that the energy crisis threatened to absorb the Philippines’ finite attention as ASEAN chair and detract from other pressing issues facing the bloc, including the conflict in Myanmar and the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.
The Diplomat also said the Philippines had called emergency meetings of ASEAN foreign ministers on March 13 and April 13, and that it was prioritizing implementation of the long-awaited ASEAN-wide power grid plan to expedite energy sharing between member states.
In the same reporting, the Diplomat said the bloc’s foreign and economic ministers discussed a “crisis communication protocol” to ensure “coherent, timely, and coordinated response” to crises, while also exchanging views on energy and food security and coordinating humanitarian responses.
