Marco Rubio, Wang Yi expected in Manila for ASEAN meetings

MANILA, Philippines — United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are expected to be among the foreign ministers flying to Manila next week for a string of high-level ASEAN meetings, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The Philippines, as this year's ASEAN chair, will host the 59th Foreign Ministers' Meeting and other high-level engagements in Metro Manila from July 19 to 24. This will be capped by the 50th commemoration of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. 

"We have information that Secretary Rubio will attend. Also, [Russian] Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend," Dominic Xavier Imperial, DFA spokesperson for ASEAN affairs, said at a briefing on July 16.

Imperial confirmed Chinese minister Wang Yi will also be present, along with the foreign ministers of Australia, New Zealand and India. North Korea, he said, will not send its foreign minister.

The DFA spokesperson did not confirm which specific meetings Rubio and other ministers will join.  

Their attendance, he said, could range from the post-ministerial conferences to the ASEAN Regional Forum, the East Asia Summit and the TAC commemoration.

ASEAN will hold post-ministerial conferences on July 22 with its dialogue partners, namely the United States, Canada, Russia, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the European Union. 

The Philippines, as chair, will also hold trilateral meetings with Brazil, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.

Myanmar, meanwhile, will be represented only by the permanent secretary of its foreign ministry, in line with ASEAN's policy of non-political representation for the junta-led country at ministerial and summit-level meetings.

The week opens with senior officials' meetings on July 19, followed by the foreign ministers' engagement with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights on July 20. The 59th AMM on July 21 will include an informal consultation on the Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar, ASEAN's stalled peace framework for the country.

The ministerial week closes July 23 with the ASEAN Plus Three, ASEAN Regional Forum and East Asia Summit foreign ministers' meetings, before the TAC commemoration on July 24. 

This includes a signing ceremony for countries acceding to the treaty, the first-ever high-level conference of its contracting parties, and a gala dinner hosted by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

On the sidelines, Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro will hold bilateral meetings with select counterparts, Imperial said.

10th anniv of ruling

The meetings come days after the Philippines and 13 other countries — Australia, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Romania, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States — issued a joint statement on July 12 marking the 10th anniversary of the arbitral ruling that rejected the basis of China's expansive claims in the South China Sea. 

The signatories stressed that the award is final, legally binding and definitive between China and the Philippines. 

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned this joint statement and said it was an "act of vilification" against it. 

None of the nine other ASEAN member states signed the statement.

At Thursday's briefing, Imperial sidestepped Beijing's recent accusation that the Philippines was using the arbitral award to "create obstacles" in the negotiations for the ASEAN-China code of conduct. He said the question was "more appropriate to be answered by our negotiators."

Imperial maintained, however, that talks on the COC are making progress, with negotiators still aiming to conclude within the year.