Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct 25 (AP):Southeast Asian foreign ministers opened talks Saturday ahead of a landmark ASEAN summit that will formally welcome East Timor as the bloc’s 11th member and mark U.S. President Donald Trump’s first trip to Asia since returning to the White House.
The summit, starting Sunday in Kuala Lumpur, will feature high-level engagements with China, Japan, India, Australia, Russia, South Korea, and the U.S. Leaders are expected to focus on regional security, economic resilience, and maritime disputes, with U.S. tariffs and global trade shifts influencing discussions.
A Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) leaders’ summit — the first since 2020 — will also convene, reviving the world’s largest trade bloc that includes ASEAN and partners such as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Its revival aims to stabilize trade flows amid Washington’s tariffs and global economic uncertainty.
Alongside Trump, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are attending. Brazilian President Lula da Silva and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa join as new dialogue partners, part of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s effort to strengthen ASEAN’s ties with Africa and Latin America.
Trump’s trip marks his first ASEAN meeting since 2017 and his first Asia visit of his second term. He is expected to witness new U.S. trade deals with Malaysia and preside over an expanded ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia, brokered in Kuala Lumpur with ASEAN’s support and under Trump’s threat to suspend trade negotiations.
“Trump’s presence reflects a rare moment of direct U.S. presidential engagement in the region,” said Joanne Lin, co-coordinator of the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute’s ASEAN Studies Centre. “More than deepening U.S. involvement, this visit is about visibility. Trump wants to project himself as a global dealmaker at a time when his domestic tariff policies have unsettled regional partners.”
Security has been tightened in Kuala Lumpur ahead of protests over Trump’s administration’s stance on the Palestinian issue. Anwar said peaceful demonstrations would be allowed but assured the meetings would proceed smoothly. While some critics view Trump as anti-Muslim, Anwar commended him for helping broker a ceasefire in Gaza, calling it “near impossible under normal terms.” Malaysia will raise the Palestinian issue directly with Trump during the summit.
The summit also marks East Timor’s ASEAN membership, its first new member in 26 years. The nation, with a population of 1.4 million, applied for membership in 2011. The last country to join ASEAN was Cambodia in 1999. Once a Portuguese colony, East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and endured a 24-year occupation before gaining independence in 2002. ASEAN membership provides access to free trade deals, investments, and regional markets, vital for reducing reliance on oil and gas.
“They are poor, yes, but they still have potential. As a community, it’s our duty to help such countries rise,” Anwar said.
Leaders will also discuss the South China Sea dispute, Myanmar’s civil war, and cross-border crime networks. ASEAN will sign an upgraded free trade pact with China and continue negotiations on a code of conduct for the disputed waterway. Meanwhile, the Myanmar crisis remains a key test of ASEAN’s unity. The junta, which seized power in 2021, remains barred from summits for ignoring the bloc’s Five-Point Consensus. Its planned December elections, widely dismissed as unfair, further complicate ASEAN’s stance. Participation in elections could legitimize the junta, while refusal risks weakening ASEAN’s leverage.
“The bigger question is what happens after the vote — whether ASEAN will continue excluding Myanmar’s junta if it claims legitimacy through this election,” said Lin.
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