Southeast Asian leaders gather in Manila from 15 to 17 November for the ASEAN Summit, chaired this year by the Philippines, with foreign ministers' meetings starting on 14 November. Leaders will hold talks with major powers including the United States, China and Japan, and US President Donald Trump is to attend. A separate Japan-led summit on the Asia Zero Emission Community is planned for the following week. The reports did not confirm whether India will attend.
The energy crisis
Import-dependent economies in the region face higher fuel costs that are squeezing households and businesses and adding to inflation, a pressure the report ties to the Middle East conflict involving Iran. Trump said he was unlikely to order new strikes on Iran after appeals from countries including Qatar, which eased some market worries, but renewed military action and disruption to oil supply remain risks. A shared regional oil stockpile is still under study. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos has said ASEAN needs to act as one on rising oil prices, security concerns and an approaching El Nino.
Myanmar and the South China Sea
Leaders will review how ASEAN's five-point consensus on Myanmar is being carried out. Activists are protesting the bloc's exclusion of Min Aung Hlaing, the coup leader turned president, from leaders' meetings, and Myanmar's civil war, which began after the 2021 coup, has reportedly killed 100,000 people and displaced more than 3.5 million. Talks with China will cover the South China Sea code of conduct, which the Philippines says is about 70 per cent complete, a figure that refers to overall progress and not to the share of text agreed. Transboundary pollution and the economic fallout of the Middle East conflict are also on the agenda.
Indonesia's vice presidency
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will travel to the Philippines after a stop in Palu, Central Sulawesi, for a Muhammadiyah event. On Friday coalition parties, among them the National Mandate Party, the Democratic Party, Golkar and the National Awakening Party, said they would leave the choice of Gibran Rakabuming Raka's successor as vice president to Prabowo, who gave party leaders a week to prepare recommendations. A related report says the People's Consultative Assembly will pick the new vice president on 2 December.
