ASEAN summit kicks off in Malaysia with Timor-Leste's accession ceremony
發佈日期: 2025-10-26 22:35
TVB News
The annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, got underway in Kuala Lumpur today.
ASEAN welcomed Timor-Leste as its newest member.
Meanwhile, with US President Donald Trump present, Cambodia and Thailand signed an expanded ceasefire agreement covering the two ASEAN countries.
Timor-Leste's accession ceremony marked the opening of ASEAN's annual summit.
Timor-Leste's accession to ASEAN gives the country, which has just 1.4 million people and a GDP of around $2 billion, better access to an economic community of nations with some 680 million people and a $3.8 trillion economy.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose country holds the bloc's rotating chairmanship, said Timor Leste's accession "completes the ASEAN family, the affirming of its shared destiny and deep sense of regional kinship."
He said ASEAN's goal was to "pursue growth that is both resilient and fair, and to safeguard the welfare of generations to come."
Timor-Leste, wedged between Indonesia and Australia, was a Portuguese colony for over four centuries before declaring independence in 1975.
Indonesia invaded nine days later, beginning a 24-year occupation that claimed 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.
Today it is led by two independence heroes, Prime Minister Gusmao and President Jose Ramos-Horta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.
They are trying to tackle high levels of unemployment, malnutrition and poverty.
Its major source of government revenues comes from the oil and gas industry, but with resources quickly becoming depleted it is looking to diversify.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump arrived in the Malaysian captial and performed his signature dance moves before getting involved in a flurry of trade and diplomatic activity.
Thailand and Cambodia signed an expanded ceasefire agreement during a ceremony attended by Trump, whose threats of economic pressure played a role in pushing the two nations to halt skirmishes along their disputed border earlier this year.
Trump stressed he is comitted to a "free and open Indo-Pacific."
"Just to say, the United States is for you, it is committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific. My message to the nations of Southeast Asia is that the United States is with you one hundred percent, and we intend to be a strong partner and friend for many generations to come."
The ceremony was Trump's first event after arriving at the summit.
The US president also signed economic agreements with Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, some of them aimed at increasing trade involving critical minerals.
