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Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) expressed “serious concern” Tuesday over renewed hostilities in the Middle East, warning that the conflict could undermine diplomatic efforts and threaten energy supplies, inflation and global economic growth.
Top diplomats from ASEAN’s 11 member states and major partner countries gathered in Manila amid growing instability fueled by the resumption of open conflict between the U.S. and Iran.
The fighting has heightened concerns over critical energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, while Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, threatening to open a new front and escalate risks to global trade and energy supplies well beyond the Gulf.
“We are deeply concerned that these developments severely undermine the ongoing efforts of key mediators and diminish the prospects for a peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy,” ASEAN foreign ministers said after a closed-door meeting.
Southeast Asia is a major oil-importing region with a combined gross domestic product of $3.8 trillion, leaving it highly exposed to possible supply shortages.
ASEAN has sought to accelerate the establishment of an oil-sharing mechanism to reduce the impact of disruptions.
The Middle East crisis adds to challenges within Southeast Asia, where ministers were also scheduled to hold consultations Tuesday on the conflict in Myanmar.
ASEAN’s peace initiative for Myanmar has struggled to make progress five years after a military coup plunged the country into a civil war that has killed an estimated 100,000 people.
Officials were also expected to discuss tensions in the South China Sea, where ASEAN and China have spent nearly 10 years trying to conclude a code of conduct aimed at preventing disputes from escalating.
Ahead of the gathering, the Philippines accused Chinese Coast Guard personnel of aggressively striking a Philippine navy member on the head with a baton near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal on Monday.
China’s Coast Guard called the accusation false, while Beijing said Tuesday that it had summoned the Philippine ambassador.
The U.S. State Department condemned what it described as China’s “dangerous and aggressive” actions and called the incident part of “China’s troubling pattern of provocation against lawful Philippine maritime operations.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are expected to join the ASEAN-led meetings in the coming days and could meet on the sidelines.
Representatives from India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Russia, Britain and the European Union are also attending.
In an opinion piece published in Philippine newspapers following his arrival in Manila on Tuesday, Rubio reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to freedom of navigation.
Without naming China, he warned that freedom of navigation was “by no means guaranteed.”
“If those waters fall under the control of a power willing to use commerce as a geopolitical weapon, both the United States and the ASEAN states would face dire new threats to their sovereignty, security and economic futures,” Rubio wrote.
He also reiterated that a 2016 arbitration ruling rejecting China’s sweeping sovereignty claims in the South China Sea was final and binding.
Rubio said the U.S. would honor its obligations to the Philippines and other allies “as they confront new and coercive threats to our shared interests.”
China does not recognize the arbitration ruling, which favored the Philippines.
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