Malaysia warns ASEAN neutrality eroding as global powers compete

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian foreign minister warned his counterparts from Southeast Asia that the space for neutrality is shrinking in a region increasingly shaped by big power rivalry, as they mark U.S. President Donald Trump’s first trip to Asia since returning to the White House.

The meeting on Saturday serves as a curtain-raiser for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, which starts on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur, followed by two days of high-level engagements with key partners including China, Japan, India, Australia, Russia, South Korea and the U.S.

Leaders are expected to focus on regional security, economic resilience, and maritime disputes — with U.S. tariffs and shifting global trade patterns looming large over discussions.

“As the international landscape becomes increasingly dominated by contestation rather than consensus, division rather than dialog, ASEAN finds itself at a crossroads,” Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan told his counterparts.

"Our space for neutrality and centrality is narrowing, particularly in areas such as trade, technology and regional security arrangement,” he said. "We must continue to act as the speakers and not the spoken for.”

A separate summit of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership — the world’s largest trade bloc encompassing ASEAN and five partners: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand — will convene for the first time since 2020. Its revival comes as regional economies seek to stabilize trade at a time when U.S. tariffs have rattled markets and tested decades of globalization.

Apart from Trump, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japan’s newly inaugurated Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are among more than a dozen leaders attending the ASEAN summit and related meetings.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will also participate as new dialogue partners — part of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s effort to deepen ASEAN’s economic ties with Africa and Latin America.

Trump’s trip marks his first ASEAN meeting since 2017 and his first journey to Asia in his second term. The last U.S. president to attend an ASEAN meeting was Joe Biden in 2022.

Officials say Trump is expected to witness new U.S. trade deals, including with Malaysia.

Trump is also expected to preside over the signing of an expanded ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia, following border clashes between the countries earlier this year. The ceasefire deal was brokered in Kuala Lumpur in July with ASEAN’s support and under Trump’s threat to suspend trade negotiations. His trip will also take him to Japan and South Korea.

“Trump’s presence reflects a rare moment of direct U.S. presidential engagement in the region,” said Joanne Lin, co-coordinator of the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute’s ASEAN Studies Centre in Singapore. It signaled Washington still sees value in ASEAN as part of its Indo-Pacific outreach, she said.

“But more than deepening U.S. involvement, this visit is about visibility. Trump wants to project himself as a global dealmaker at a time when his domestic policies, especially tariffs, have unsettled key partners in the region,” Lin said.

Security has been ramped up across Kuala Lumpur ahead of planned protests against Trump’s visit, particularly over his administration’s stance on the Palestinian issue.

Anwar has said the government would allow peaceful demonstrations but vowed the meetings would proceed smoothly. While Anwar acknowledged that some critics may have called Trump anti-Muslim, he commended Trump for helping broker a ceasefire in Gaza, “which is near impossible under normal terms.”

Malaysia, however, maintains that the truce has not resolved the Palestinian question and intends to raise the issue directly with Trump during the summit, Anwar said.

This year’s summit marks a milestone for ASEAN as it welcomes a new member for the first time in 26 years. It has been a long but rewarding journey for East Timor, also known as Timor Leste, which applied for membership in 2011. The last member to join ASEAN was Cambodia in 1999.

“Welcoming this young democracy strengthens not only our collective resolve, but also our capacity to meet future challenges together,” Mohamad said.

The integration of the region’s youngest and poorest nation — with just 1.4 million people — is being hailed as a symbolic step for regional inclusivity. East Timor was a Portuguese colony for over four centuries before Indonesia’s 1975 invasion.

A brutal 24-year occupation followed, claiming tens of thousands of lives through conflict, famine and disease. A U.N.-supervised referendum in 1999 paved the way for independence, which was formally restored in 2002.

ASEAN membership gives East Timor access to the bloc’s free trade deals, investment opportunities and a broader regional market — vital for diversifying an economy long reliant on oil and gas.

Leaders are also expected to discuss flashpoints including the South China Sea dispute, Myanmar’s civil war, and the spread of cross-border scam networks.

During the meetings, ASEAN will sign an upgraded free trade pact with China and continue negotiations on a long-delayed code of conduct for the contested waterway.

Meanwhile, the civil war triggered by Myanmar’s 2021 military takeover continues to test ASEAN’s unity, with military government leaders still barred from summits after failing to comply with the bloc’s 2021 Five-Point Consensus on peace and dialogue. Myanmar's plans for elections in December — dismissed by critics as neither free nor fair — have put the bloc in a tight spot and will be discussed at the summit.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told reporters his country would be prepared to send observers, but stressed that it would not mean endorsing the polls.

“We think that we have to be there, we have to be involved, post election as well," he said. “The democratic process of Myanmar does not end at the elections.”

Associated Press writer David Rising contributed to this report.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Sugiono, left, and East Timor's Foreign Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas, center, speak with ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn during the ASEAN foreign ministers/ meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Thailand's Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, right, shakes hands with ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn as they arrive to attend the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Malaysia's Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, center in the background, delivers a speech during the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

From left, Singapore's Permanent Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert Chu, Thailand's Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dang Hoang Giang, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro and unidentified Brunei's representative leave after a group photo during ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

From left to right, Lao's Minister of Foreign Affairs Thongsavanh Phomvihane, Myanmar's Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs U Hau Khan Sum, Singapore's Permanent Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert Chu, Thailand's Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dang Hoang Giang, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro, unidentified Brunei's representative, Cambodia's Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Sugiono, East Timor's Foreign Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas and ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn pose for a group photo during ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A man walks in front national flags of member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ahead of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

The logo of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is pictured in front of Malaysia's Petronas Twin Towers ahead of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A woman walks in front logo of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ahead of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Motorists stop at a traffic light next to the logo of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in front of Malaysia's Petronas Twin Towers ahead of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.

“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.

It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.

Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.

While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.

NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.

The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)