Why the Philippines walks a delicate balance as Asean chair

AI Summary

The Philippines, holding the ASEAN chair, faces a delicate balance due to recent regional tensions including a US-Israeli strike on Iran and the strategic Strait of Hormuz becoming a conflict zone. The country's crude oil imports through this route underline its energy security concerns amid geopolitical challenges.

When Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr accepted the Asean gavel from Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur last October, the script was already written: a packed agenda, South China Sea diplomacy in the spotlight and a regional digital economy deal to clinch. Then the world changed. On February 28, US and Israeli forces struck Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, an artery of global shipping through which 98 per cent of the Philippines’ crude oil imports travel, became a war zone....