Lazaro-Wang meeting set; unclear if caricature issue will be raised
MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro is set to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during this week’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) ministerial meetings in Manila, although it remains unclear whether they will discuss the racist depiction of Filipinos in a series of opinion videos and editorial cartoons published by state-run newspaper China Daily.
Asean 2026 spokesperson and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary Dominic Xavier Imperial confirmed on Monday that Wang will attend the series of meetings, where Asean is scheduled to meet with its 11 dialogue partners, including Australia, Canada, China, the European Union (EU), India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The Philippines will use the meetings to engage with China and other major powers, with addressing regional tensions and global conflicts among the leaders’ top agenda items, according to the DFA.
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“We believe that this engagement is very important because not only will it cover the bilateral relations between the Philippines and China but it will also have something to do with the impact of what’s happening globally to the region, to the Asean,” Imperial added.
The Philippines earlier filed a formal diplomatic protest against the AI-generated video posted on China Daily’s Facebook page portraying Filipinos as monkeys while mocking the Philippines’ 2016 South China Sea arbitral victory.
The DFA said Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim first raised the issue directly with Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan during a meeting last week, where he demanded that the offensive materials be removed.
READ: DFA lodges protest over China video depicting Filipinos as monkeys
According to Imperial, the Asean Post-Ministerial Conference with China, scheduled for Wednesday, would serve as an important platform for the bloc and Beijing to discuss common interests despite ongoing tensions with some member states, including disputes in the South China Sea.
“It is a very good venue not only for the Philippines but for Asean to discuss with China the mutual and common interests they want to pursue,” Imperial said.
“As regards other bilateral issues, we leave it to each country to discuss those with China. But for this week, the important thing is that Asean and China have a venue to discuss how they can cooperate and move forward on identified mutual interests,” he added.
As the current chair of the Asean, the Philippines will host the 59th Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, post-ministerial conferences with Asean’s 11 dialogue partners, the Asean Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, 33rd Asean Region Forum, and activities marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) from July 20 to 24.
During the Asean Foreign Minister Meeting which will open on Tuesday, the ministers are expected to discuss the bloc’s “progress across the three community pillars, review developments in Asean’s external relations, and exchange views on key regional and international issues affecting the region.”
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The ministers will also adopt the 59th Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting Joint Communique, which will comprehensively reflect the discussions and decisions reached during the meeting, including Asean’s priorities under the three community pillars, its engagement with external partners, and its common positions on regional and international developments.
They will also adopt the guidelines on the modalities for engagement of Asean with high contracting parties to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
According to Imperial, the meetings come at a critical time as conflicts in the Middle East, Myanmar and other geopolitical flashpoints continue to affect the region.
While negotiations are ongoing, Imperial said the Asean foreign ministers are expected to make references to the Myanmar civil war, the Thailand-Cambodia border issue, as well as the conflict in the Middle East, noting that it was a “very important topic” discussed during the Asean Summit in May.
The South China Sea and negotiations on the Code of Conduct will likewise remain part of the foreign ministers’ discussions, he added.
Despite the global uncertainties, Imperial said the Asean meetings would be “a good mechanism for everyone to sit down and discuss.” /dl
