Southeast Asian leaders and global partners, including U.S. President Donald Trump, will gather in Kuala Lumpur from 26 to 28 October to discuss trade, regional conflicts and global security, with East Timor set to join ASEAN as its 11th member.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will hold its annual summit in Malaysia from Sunday, drawing world leaders for talks expected to focus on U.S.–China trade tensions, regional security and economic cooperation.
President Trump is attending alongside top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Other leaders include China’s Premier Li Qiang, Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
U.S. and Chinese officials are expected to hold trade discussions in Malaysia ahead of Trump’s arrival, seeking to ease friction over Beijing’s rare earth export curbs. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will meet Bessent and Greer from 24 to 27 October in an effort to avert new U.S. trade measures before a possible Trump–Xi meeting in South Korea next week.
Regional tensions are also on the agenda. Thailand and Cambodia are due to sign a ceasefire to end their border conflict, which claimed several lives in July. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Trump helped broker the truce in July, with Cambodia later nominating the U.S. president for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Malaysia will host a concurrent summit for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest trade bloc, covering about 30% of global GDP. Leaders will discuss expanding membership and boosting trade flows across Asia-Pacific economies, including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
ASEAN will also formally admit East Timor as its 11th member on 26 October, concluding a 14-year accession process. The country, Southeast Asia’s poorest with around 1.4 million people, first applied for membership in 2011 and gained observer status in 2022.
Trump’s presence — his first ASEAN summit since 2017 — underscores Washington’s bid to reinforce regional alliances amid growing competition with Beijing across Southeast Asia.
Gen Z protests swept 34 German cities on Saturday (31 October) over education, living costs and military service proposals. Violence erupted in Fra...
Iran designated Britain's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as terrorist organisations on Sunday, (1 November), and classified the country's f...
Since 2021, only 9 per cent of $8 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan can be traced beyond initial recipients in public re...
The U.S. has approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine in a deal worth an estimated $2.1 billion, but Kyiv could face years of delays before receiving the weapons it urgently needs to defend against intensifying Russian attacks.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered Iran's armed forces to respond to any threat immediately and without geographical limits in statements posted to social media platforms on Saturday (31 October).
Demonstrators carrying Iranian flags and placards supporting the hijab gathered outside the Azerbaijani Embassy in London.
A Chinese-made AI chip has matched Nvidia’s H200 in tests conducted by its developer, marking a potential breakthrough in China’s efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign technology.
A hacking group linked to North Korea is widely believed to be behind the theft of $6.3 billion from cryptocurrency giant Binance, a cyberattack that experts describe as the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
Gen Z protests swept 34 German cities on Saturday (31 October) over education, living costs and military service proposals. Violence erupted in Frankfurt, where shops were looted and police reported Molotov cocktail attacks.
Iran designated Britain's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as terrorist organisations on Sunday, (1 November), and classified the country's foreign intelligence agency, MI6, as a hostile group, according to a statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Thousands protested in Albania's capital, Tirana, on Saturday (31 October), demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama's resignation over perceived corruption allegations and dissatisfaction with the government over a lack of jobs and poor education standards.
Russia has agreed to work with Ghana on developing a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant following talks at the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said on Saturday.
Foreign ministers from the U.S., Japan, Australia and India raised concerns over export restrictions and economic coercion at a Quad meeting in Atlanta, U.S., on Saturday, 31 October 2026, according to their joint statement.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment