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KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Malaysia handed over the chairmanship 
of Southeast Asia's regional bloc to the Philippines on Tuesday, with 
territorial disputes in the South China Sea set to dominate its agenda when 
Manila takes charge in 2026.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who will remain chair of the Association of 
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) until the end of the year, symbolically 
passed the gavel to Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos at the close of a 
summit in Kuala Lumpur.

"On the first day of 2026, ASEAN will begin a new chapter," Anwar said.

The Philippines is one of four ASEAN member states, along with Brunei, 
Malaysia and Vietnam, that have contesting claims in the South China Sea 
linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

This has put them at odds with China, which has its own sweeping assertions 
of sovereignty over the strategic waterway despite an international ruling in 
2016 concluding this has no legal basis.

Tensions between Beijing and Manila have been particularly fraught, with 
maritime confrontations occurring regularly.

"The South China Sea only becomes an area of focus when incidents on the 
ground heat up... and they have been heating up," a Southeast Asian diplomat 
told AFP at the ASEAN summit, speaking on condition of anonymity.

ASEAN and China have been negotiating a code of conduct to regulate behaviour 
in the contested maritime area, aiming to secure an agreement by next year -- 
more than two decades since the idea was first proposed.

Marcos told the Kuala Lumpur summit that "there are positive outcomes to be 
gained if we commit to cooperation and meaningful engagement, especially in 
the South China Sea."

But Manila-based geopolitical analyst Don McLain Gill told AFP that while the 
Philippines is expected to stress maritime security, any pact China would 
agree to would likely lack teeth.

Diplomats and analysts say Manila will push to prevent further escalation and 
to promote cooperation with Beijing.

Areas of potential cooperation include ocean meteorology, which is crucial 
for maritime safety, as well as mechanisms to ensure access to fishing 
grounds.

As ASEAN chair, the Philippines will also shoulder the bloc's role in 
Myanmar, mired in civil war since a 2021 military coup.

"It is important for the Philippine government not to let the South China Sea 
issue eclipse the other priorities of ASEAN," said Mustafa Izzuddin, an 
international analyst at Solaris Strategies Singapore.

With Myanmar preparing for elections on December 28, diplomatic sources told 
AFP that ASEAN would not send observers -- a setback to the junta's push for 
international legitimacy -- although individual member states may do so.

Manila will face the task of forging a collective ASEAN stance, including on 
whether to invite junta leaders back to regional meetings which they have 
been barred from since the coup.

It will also oversee talks to appoint a permanent envoy for Myanmar.