Foreign ministers from fuel-stressed Southeast Asia will call for freedom of navigation in international straits when they wrap a week of meetings largely overshadowed by the US-Iran war, according to a draft communique seen by AFP.
The draft statement expected to emerge from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) gathering in Manila will also repeat calls for self-restraint in a Middle East conflict that has carried economic ripple effects throughout the region.
Visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week warned Asean envoys that Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz would set a “dangerous precedent”.
