Timor Leste as Asean member?

KUALA LUMPUR—Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Sunday said it was “high time” for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to accept Timor-Leste as the 11th member of the regional bloc.

“Looking forward, in promoting Asean centrality, Asean must remain outward-oriented, especially in this milestone year that marks our integration,” Del Rosario said at the group’s foreign ministers’ meeting here.

Del Rosario was referring to the Asean Community to be established at the end of the year as a “politically cohesive, economically integrated and socially responsible” region comprising the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Timor-Leste gained independence from Indonesia in 2002, after a 25-year occupation that ended in 1999. Nikko Dizon