MANILA – A key regional summit opens on Nov 15 in Manila, with South-east Asian heads of state facing questions on trade, security and an ongoing energy crisis while playing host to a “who’s who” of global leaders.
US President Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive on Nov 17 near the summit’s conclusion, a visit expected to include a sideline meeting with fellow Quad countries India, Japan and Australia – the first of his second term.
The meeting of the Quad – a grouping broadly aimed at counterbalancing China’s regional influence – would come days before a historic sit-down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Shenzhen.
Brazil’s recently re-elected Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, meanwhile, is set to attend a plenary session of the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Nov 15, while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will sign a new defence pact with host country the Philippines.
Nearly 20,000 police officers have been deployed around Metro Manila for the summit, with progressive groups predicting a turnout of thousands on Nov 17 for an anti-Trump march on the summit site.
Much of the uproar targets the US Pax Silica programme – a supply-chain initiative designed to counter China’s dominance in semiconductors and rare earths – whose flagship Philippine project, a 1,620ha AI manufacturing…
