[Tee tiong huat]

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will attend the 46th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit from Monday (May 26) to Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur. The upcoming summit will be the first of two hosted by Malaysia as this year’s ASEAN chair.

As the rotating chair for ASEAN this year, Malaysia has urged the bloc to diversify its trading partners in the face of sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. VsSpeaking on Sunday, Tengku Zafrul warned the bloc against staying still at a time of economic uncertainty.

“ASEAN would need to break away from a business-as-usual approach,” he said.
“We need to adopt bolder, more agile and more forward-looking strategies. We need to safeguard and advance ASEAN socioeconomic interests.”

ASEAN has reaffirmed commitment to stand by the principles of multilateralism and a rules-based global trading order, even as it continues to maintain a policy of non-retaliation against the US tariffs, Tengku Zafrul said.