THE Philippine capital is preparing to welcome 59 delegations of foreign ministers and senior officials next week for what DFA spokesperson Dominic Xavier ‘Dax’ Imperial describes as ‘one of the most significant diplomatic engagements of our Asean chairmanship.’
Confirmed participants include U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, alongside counterparts from Japan, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Ukraine.
Their presence highlights the Indo-Pacific’s strategic weight as a theater of competition and cooperation. North Korea, however, has formally declined to send a representative.
The breadth of attendance reflects Asean’s enduring role as a convening platform where rival powers can engage under a neutral, multilateral umbrella.
Manila’s hosting comes at a time when the Philippines is recalibrating its foreign policy, balancing its alliance with Washington against pragmatic ties with Beijing and Moscow.
TAC at 50: Expanding Asean’s reach
The highlight of the week is the 50th-anniversary commemoration of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) on July 24, which will feature a high-level conference, a gala dinner, and the accession of six or seven new high-contracting parties, expanding the treaty’s reach to approximately 64 nations.
‘This milestone celebrates five decades of the TAC as the foundational code of conduct governing relations among states,’ Imperial said.
The TAC is a peace treaty established in 1976 by the founding members of Asean (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand). It focuses on principles like mutual respect for sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs, and the peaceful settlement of disputes.
Imperial said the meeting is expected to release an outcome document declaring a new engagement modality for TAC contracting parties.
‘When they signed the TAC, it seemed like there’s no mechanism to engage more…but now with this modality, we’re now creating a mechanism that they can engage with Asean even though they are not a dialogue or sectoral partner.’
Common interests that Asean and TAC partners can pursue include maritime, economic and food security, he added.
Myanmar: The non-political policy
The Myanmar crisis remains a recurring test of Asean’s unity. According to Imperial, the peace plan called Five-Point Consensus (5PC) continues to serve as the definitive reference point for all engagements.
Maintaining the bloc’s policy of non-political representation, Manila has confirmed that Myanmar will be represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rather than a political official.
A separate informal meeting will also be held on the issue of Myanmar at the sidelines of the AMM.
Managing rivalries
The week-long series of meetings-including the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM), Post-Ministerial Conferences, and the culmination on July 25 with the Asean Plus Three (APT), Asean Regional Forum (ARF), and East Asia Summit (EAS)-serves a dual purpose.
While these meetings are designed to advance regional integration, they also function as a critical forum for managing tensions among dialogue partners, including the US, China, Japan, and Russia.
Addressing this strategic balancing act, Imperial emphasized that the priority is to utilize the Asean platform for cooperative dialogue.
‘While we see that there are differences among our dialogue partners, we’re really looking at how we can cooperate with our dialogue partners. And I think that’s the whole purpose of convening these meetings next week,’ he told reporters in a briefing Thursday.
He said the Asean framework is intentionally designed to foster this stability.
‘The way that this mechanism is created under the Asean framework is really putting everyone together in one room and having these candid, collaborative discussions more than highlighting whatever it is that is impacting their relations bilaterally.’