Foreign Ministers

Foreign ministers from Southeast Asia opened high-level talks on Thursday to confront a growing list of regional security challenges, including rising tensions in the South China Sea, Myanmar’s deepening civil war, and a renewed border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.

The meeting — a closed-door retreat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — marks the start of the bloc’s policy planning for the year under the Philippines’ chairmanship, according to officials.

Philippine Foreign Minister Ma. Theresa Lazaro told counterparts that the region is facing a rapidly shifting global security environment, describing it as increasingly “challenging,” “complex,” and “interconnected.”…