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Coronavirus: A testing time for Asia

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Updated 27 February 2020
Arab News
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Coronavirus: A testing time for Asia

  • Governments in Malaysia and Singapore have released awareness pamphlets to fight fake news both on and offline
  • Sri Lanka remains free from coronavirus after its only infected patient from China recovers
Updated 27 February 2020
Arab News

Health fears are rising across the Middle East after Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Iraq reported their first cases of the coronavirus earlier this week following a nationwide outbreak in Iran.

The Iranian government has vowed to be transparent after being accused of covering up the deadliest outbreak of the virus (known as Covid-19) outside China, confirming 139 cases of the infection and a death toll of 19 people to date.

Infected Iranian travelers across the Middle East have also been identified as carriers of the coronavirus, leading many Arab states to close their borders to Iran in addition to China and South Korea.

Several European countries have announced their first cases, including Austria, Croatia and Switzerland, after an outbreak in Italy was announced earlier this week.

Overall, Covid-19, which originated in Wuhan, China, has infected more than 81,000 people worldwide in two months, claiming the lives of close to 3,000 people.

The following are stories from around Asia as efforts to contain the coronavirus threat continue.




Kuwaiti women wear protective masks as they sit in a restaurant inside the Mubarakiya Market in Kuwait City. (AFP)

Malaysia, Singapore

Malaysia and Singapore are fighting fake news both on and offline, following the global spread of Covid-19 which first emerged in China in January this year, officials told Arab News.

Singapore NGO worker Mathilda Ho told Arab News that a wave of panic and anxiety swept through Singapore after authorities there raised the disease outbreak response system condition (DORSCON) level to orange two weeks ago.

“A number of citizen journalists and the media reported stockpiling to the point where aisles of rice or staples and even paper products such as toilet paper were wiped off the shelves at supermarkets,” said Ho.

Xenophobia against Asians and the Chinese community has also increased online, including in Malaysia and Singapore, prompting both governments to invoke laws against such activities. Since last month, Malaysian authorities have arrested 12 people and Singapore has detained four individuals for alleged hate-related incidents.

In a bid to deflate the online “infodemic,” the two neighbors have also released pamphlets in four languages — English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil — while the Singapore government launched a catchy rap song asking people to maintain hygiene.

Dr. Ian Chong, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, told Arab News that both governments were trying to keep their populations calm but he criticized authorities for not acting sooner.

“In Singapore, earlier public messaging about what to do at different alert levels might have helped reduce some of the panic buying, hoarding, and profiteering that came after the (Prime Minister) Lee (Hsien Loong) administration raised health alert levels,” said Chong.

FASTFACTS

  • Global cases of the coronavirus have passed 81,000.
  • The proportion of infected people who die is about 3 percent.
  • There have been 2,770 deaths worldwide, with the majority in mainland China.
  • The main signs of infection are fever, a cough and breathing difficulties.
  • Origins of virus linked to illegally traded wildlife at Wuhan’s seafood market.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan has banned all travel to and from Iran after officials reported on Sunday that three Afghans who had recently returned from the country could be suspected carriers of the coronavirus.

Blood samples of the three elderly men, now in hospital in the western city of Herat, which borders Iran, have been sent to Kabul for tests, Waheed Mayar, head of foreign relations for the Ministry of Public Health told Arab News.

“We do not know how long it will take to find out if they really have coronavirus or not. They were tested at the border and it could be the virus, or any other illness related to cold weather,” he said.

The development adds to the vulnerabilities faced by Afghanistan with its close proximity to China. Mayar said the government had set up health checks at all airports and border crossings with Iran and Pakistan, China’s other neighbor and main trading partner.

“These teams are screening those people who have had exit visas from China dating to one month back. All their details are recorded, and our teams are in contact with them to check if there is any possible sign of the virus on them,” he added.

Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Gran Hewad, told Arab News that 62 Afghan students were currently residing in Wuhan, where the outbreak originated.

Khan Jan Alokozai, deputy head of Afghanistan’s Chambers of Commerce said Kabul had halted all of its imports from China.

“It (coronavirus) has also affected business, imports and exports to and from China for us too. Each week, we used to dispatch by air 40 tons of goods, pine nuts mostly, but that has come to a halt,” he added.

India

Fearing a radical slowdown in the country’s manufacturing sectors, India’s premier industry body the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged the government to set up a special taskforce to deal with the impact of coronavirus on imports from China.

Two of the CII’s key demands include the “lowering of import duty” in addition to the provision of “easy credit to manufacturers.”

The CII serves as a reference point for Indian industry and the international business community, with more than 9,000 members representing both small- and large-scale industries and 300,000 indirect members from the country.

“The coronavirus pandemic in China is impacting critical inputs for the Indian industry which may adversely impact small businesses. A joint government-industry taskforce can institute risk mitigation measures on an immediate basis,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, the CII’s director general.

“There is no call for panic as Indian industry is resilient and can enhance domestic production to meet temporary shortfalls,” he added.

According to the CII, China supplies 43 percent of India’s imports of the top 20 goods, including mobile handsets ($7.2 billion imported from China), computers ($3 billion), integrated circuits and other inputs ($7.5 billion), fertilizers ($1.5 billion), API ($1.4 billion), and antibiotics ($1.1 billion).

India also imports goods worth more than $1 billion from China, particularly in the pharma, fertilizers, medical devices, inorganic chemicals, and textile sectors.

The CII stated in its report that “the pharma sector is particularly vulnerable as it (the outbreak) is a matter of health of Indian citizens.”

Sudarshan Jain, of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, told Arab News: “We need to be cautious and not create unnecessary speculation in the market.”

Another sector hit has been the toy industry. With only 30 percent of inventory left, there has been a spike in toy prices in recent days.

“The next supply is expected in April end or May first week. Until then, we will have to live with a supply constraint,” said Vipin Nijhawan of the Toy Association of India.

 

Sri Lanka

As one of Asia’s top tourist destinations still free from coronavirus, officials in Sri Lanka said that they had embarked on a chain of preventive measures to maintain the island nation’s status quo and keep the disease off its shores.

Dr. Sudath Samaraweera, chief epidemiologist at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Colombo, told Arab News that from the time the World Health Organization had declared a global emergency, Sri Lankan authorities had been on red alert and were vigilantly monitoring all airports and entry points.

To facilitate the process, the government had put a stop on all online and on-arrival visas for tourists from China which topped the list of countries with maximum visitors to Sri Lanka.

Samaraweera added that more than 1,600 people, including students, who had arrived from China and affected areas there, were being monitored by public health inspectors throughout the country, and 14 specialized hospitals had been equipped to deal with cases. So far, the hospitals had treated 178 suspected cases, including 47 foreigners.

“There was one Chinese woman from Wuhan, who showed symptoms and she was discharged from the hospital after testing negative. A group of 33 students who were brought into the country by a special charter from Wuhan, are completing nine days of quarantine in an army hospital and will be discharged soon once all is clear,” he added. 

 

Bangladesh

Bangladesh has taken all necessary measures to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country, with no confirmed cases reported so far, health officials told Arab News on Sunday.

In addition to beefing up screening procedures at airports, land ports, and seaports, a round-the-clock hotline service and special quarantine units have been installed at all government-run hospitals.

According to officials from the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), 291,126 visitors had been screened for the virus between Jan. 21 and Feb. 23, and 17,253 had been tested in the past 24 hours.

“We are on alert for passengers from Singapore, as it has the second-highest local transmission rate after China,” Dr. A. S. M. Alamgir, chief of the IEDCR coronavirus control room, told Arab News.

Nearly 175 Bangladeshi students are stranded in Yichang, the second-largest city in China’s Hubei province after its capital Wuhan.

“To date, we haven’t seen any symptoms of the virus and are expecting to release them soon,” said Alamgir, who is also the principal scientific officer at the IEDCR.

 

Philippines

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte is keen to promote domestic tourism to help the economy.

While there have been three confirmed cases of Covid-19 infections in the Philippines, none of them were Filipino, with all three reported to be Chinese visitors.

Through a video message posted by the Philippine authorities, Duterte encouraged the public to boost local tourism by visiting the “many wonderful places that the Philippines has to offer.”

“To my fellow Filipinos, I encourage you to travel with me around the Philippines. I assure you that everything is safe in our country,” Duterte said.

“Come with me and be my travel companion. I’ll be traveling around the Philippines,” he added.

He noted that airlines, hotels and resorts had “agreed to lower their rates so that we can be a viable market.”

The Philippines has imposed travel restrictions on visitors from China and its administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau to prevent the spread of the virus.

The Department of Tourism (DoT) said the coronavirus threat has resulted in foregone revenue for the month of February estimated around 14.8 billion pesos.

 * Input from: Nor Arlene Tan, Kuala Lumpur; Sayed Salahuddin, Kabul; Sanjay Kumar, New Delhi; Mohammed Rasooldeen, Colombo; Shehab Sumon, Dhaka; Ellie Aben, Manila

Topics: Coronavirus Wuhan coronavirus Editor’s Choice

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State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan

Updated 12 July 2025
AP
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State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan

  • The cuts have been roundly criticized by current and former diplomats
Updated 12 July 2025
AP

WASHINGTON: The US State Department fired more than 1,300 employees on Friday in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump administration that critics say will damage America’s global leadership and efforts to counter threats abroad.
The department sent layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with assignments in the United States, according to a senior department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
Notices said positions were being “abolished” and the employees would lose access to State Department headquarters in Washington and their email and shared drives by 5 p.m., according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.
As fired employees packed their belongings, dozens of former colleagues, ambassadors, members of Congress and others spent a warm, humid day protesting outside. Holding signs saying, “Thank you to America’s diplomats” and “We all deserve better,” they mourned the institutional loss from the cuts and highlighted the personal sacrifice of serving in the foreign service.
“We talk about people in uniform serving. But foreign service officers take an oath of office, just like military officers,” said Anne Bodine, who retired from the State Department in 2011 after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This is not the way to treat people who served their country and who believe in ‘America First.’”
While lauded by President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and their Republican allies as overdue and necessary to make the department leaner and more efficient, the cuts have been roundly criticized by current and former diplomats who say they will weaken US influence and the ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.
The layoffs are part of big changes to State Department work
The Trump administration has pushed to reshape American diplomacy and worked aggressively to shrink the size of the federal government, including mass dismissals driven by the Department of Government Efficiency and moves to dismantle whole departments like the US Agency for International Development and the Education Department.
USAID, the six-decade-old foreign assistance agency, was absorbed into the State Department last week after the administration dramatically slashed foreign aid funding.
A recent ruling by the Supreme Court cleared the way for the layoffs to start, while lawsuits challenging the legality of the cuts continue to play out. The department had advised staffers Thursday that it would be sending layoff notices to some of them soon.
In a May letter notifying Congress about the reorganization, the department said it had just over 18,700 US-based employees and was looking to reduce the workforce by 18 percent through layoffs and voluntary departures, including deferred resignation programs.
“It’s not a consequence of trying to get rid of people. But if you close the bureau, you don’t need those positions,” Rubio told reporters Thursday during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people.”
Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs, according to an internal notice obtained by AP. For most civil servants, the separation period is 60 days, it said.
Protesters gather to criticize the job cuts
Inside and just outside the State Department, employees spent over an hour applauding their departing colleagues, who got more support — and sometimes hugs — from protesters and others gathered across the street.
As speakers took to a bullhorn, people behind them held signs in the shape of gravestones that said “democracy,” “human rights” and “diplomacy.”
“It’s just heartbreaking to stand outside these doors right now and see people coming out in tears, because all they wanted to do was serve this country,” said Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat who worked as a civilian adviser for the State Department in Afghanistan during the Obama administration.
Robert Blake, who served as a US ambassador under the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, said he came to support his peers at a very “unjust time.”
“I have a lot of friends who served very loyally and with distinction and who are being fired for nothing to do with their performance,” Blake said.
Gordon Duguid, a 31-year veteran of the foreign service, said of the Trump administration: “They’re not looking for people who have the expertise ... they just want people who say, ‘OK, how high’” to jump.
“That’s a recipe for disaster,” he added.
The American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents US diplomats, said it opposed the job cuts during “a moment of great global instability.”
“Losing more diplomatic expertise at this critical global moment is a catastrophic blow to our national interests,” the AFSA said in a statement. “These layoffs are untethered from merit or mission.”
As the layoffs began, paper signs started going up around the State Department. “Colleagues, if you remain: resist fascism,” said one.
An employee who was among those laid off said she printed them about a week ago, when the Supreme Court cleared way for the reductions. The employee spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
She worked with about a dozen colleagues to put up the signs. They focused on bathrooms, where there are no security cameras, although others went in more public spaces.
“Nobody wants to feel like these guys can just get away with this,” she said.
The State Department is undergoing a big reorganization
The State Department is planning to eliminate some divisions tasked with oversight of America’s two-decade involvement in Afghanistan, including an office focused on resettling Afghan nationals who worked alongside the US military.
Jessica Bradley Rushing, who worked at the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, known as CARE, said she was shocked when she received another dismissal notice Friday after she had already been put on administrative leave in March.
“I spent the entire morning getting updates from my former colleagues at CARE, who were watching this carnage take place within the office,” she said, adding that every person on her team received a notice. “I never even anticipated that I could be at risk for that because I’m already on administrative leave.”
The State Department said the reorganization will affect more than 300 bureaus and offices, as it eliminates divisions it describes as doing unclear or overlapping work. It says Rubio believes “effective modern diplomacy requires streamlining this bloated bureaucracy.”
The letter to Congress was clear that the reorganization is also intended to eliminate programs — particularly those related to refugees and immigration, as well as human rights and democracy promotion — that the Trump administration believes have become ideologically driven in a way that is incompatible with its priorities and policies.
___
Lee reported from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Amiri from New York. Chris Megerian in Washington contributed.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the US Department of State at https://apnews.com/hub/us-department-of-state.

Topics: US State Department

Australia detains Palestinian grandmother who fled Gaza

Updated 11 July 2025
Arab News
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Australia detains Palestinian grandmother who fled Gaza

  • Maha Almassri, 61, was taken away during a pre-dawn raid on her son’s home in Sydney
  • Government official cancels her visa over concerns she is a ‘security risk’
Updated 11 July 2025
Arab News

LONDON: A Palestinian grandmother who fled the war in Gaza has been detained in Australia by immigration officers after they raided her son’s home in Sydney.

Maha Almassri, 61, was taken away in a pre-dawn raid on Thursday by 15 members of the Australian Border Force, her family said.

She was told her visa has been canceled after she failed a character test, Guardian Australia reported.

Almassri left Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in February 2024 and arrived in Australia, where many of her family live, on a tourist visa soon afterwards, her cousin Mohammed Almassri said.

She had been staying with her son in western Sydney, where the raid took place at 5.30 a.m. She was taken to a nearby police station and transferred to Villawood detention center, Mohammed told the Guardian.

Her visa was canceled by the assistant minister for citizenship and cultural affairs Julian Hill, who “reasonably suspects that the person does not pass the character test” and was “satisfied that the cancelation was in the national interest,” a document seen by the newspaper and SBS News said.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organization assessed Almassri to be “directly or indirectly a risk to security,” it said.

Mohammed said that his cousin was in poor health, frightened, and struggled to talk over the phone because she was so upset.

He said that the Australian and Israeli authorities carried out security checks before she was cleared to leave Gaza, where almost 58,000 people have been killed in a 21-month Israeli onslaught.

“She’s an old lady, what can she do?” Mohammed said. “What’s the reason? They have to let us know why this has happened. There is no country, no house, nothing (to go back to in Gaza).”

A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told SBS News that the government would not comment on the case.

“Any information in the public domain is being supplied by the individual and is not necessarily consistent with the information supplied by our intelligence and security agencies,” the spokesperson said.

Almassri had reportedly been granted a bridging visa in June last year after applying for a protection visa.

Last year, Amnesty International accused Australia of rejecting more than 7,000 Palestinian visa applications since the Israeli offensive on Gaza started in 2023.

Topics: War on Gaza Australia

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Palestine Action protests aim to make UK ban ‘unenforceable’

Updated 11 July 2025
Arab News
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Palestine Action protests aim to make UK ban ‘unenforceable’

  • Hundreds expected at demonstrations in London, Cardiff, Manchester after group proscribed under Terrorism Act
  • Founder: ‘We’re a force to be reckoned with when we act together’
Updated 11 July 2025
Arab News

LONDON: Palestine Action supporters say they will make the ban on the group “unenforceable” after it was proscribed as a terrorist organization by the UK government. 

On Thursday, the group’s founder Huda Ammori, 31, encouraged over 200 people in a Zoom meeting to protest the move this weekend in London and elsewhere, The Times reported on Friday.

“My faith in people like you all is at an all-time high,” she said. “We’re a force to be reckoned with when we act together.

“The most effective route is through actions like the ones Defend Our Juries are leading the way on, in terms of making this ban unenforceable.”

Defend Our Juries is a group originally set up to convince juries not to convict climate activists engaged in disruptive behavior in the UK.

In the Zoom meeting attended by Ammori, a Defend Our Juries member encouraged people to be arrested, saying the police take “a soft approach” to conscientious protests.

“People will be thinking, ‘is that the end of it, has that repression worked to silence us?’ Imagine if it’s the opposite effect and there are double (the number) of us in Parliament Square on Saturday, and there are similar actions in Cardiff and Manchester,” the Defend Our Juries member said.

The call to protest comes a week after 29 demonstrators were arrested for supporting Palestine Action with placards in Westminster, including an elderly female Church of England priest.

“The Met (Police) commissioner has now got an excruciating dilemma. He was being hauled over the coals for wasting public money, for arresting an 83-year-old priest with a sign opposing genocide,” the Defend Our Juries member said.

“He’s either got to double down on that, leaving him looking like he’s not listening, or he’s got to leave it be, which is to admit the law is mad and unenforceable. He’s got no good option. As long as we turn up in numbers, we expose this.”

Palestine Action was outlawed on July 5 after members of the group broke into a Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton and vandalized military aircraft. Under the terms of the ban, support for the group could lead to a 14-year prison sentence. 

Protesters, though, are using encrypted messaging platforms such as Signal to plan further demonstrations in other UK cities, The Times reported. 

Ammori, of Palestinian-Iraqi heritage, has backed the protests to cause major disruption in the UK court system if hundreds of people are arrested under the Terrorism Act.

The first of these, in London, will be held in Parliament Square on Saturday at 1 p.m., and attendees were told via Zoom that they would be provided with placards, solicitors’ information and prepared statements to read to police if arrested.

A nine-page document was also issued with instructions to communicate via burner phones and on what to do when arrested, including to “go floppy” when manhandled by police to “add to the visual drama of the action” of “civil resistance.”

Another activist with over 100 arrests to their name told the Zoom call: “The worst thing we can do is to be scared. We have to become active … You will find it wonderful to do, important to do.

“If any of you have been getting depressed about issues recently, it’s a great antidote to depression.”

Ammori will appear before the High Court on July 21 after a judicial review of the ban on Palestine Action was called, with moves to prevent its proscription rejected by the Court of Appeal.

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Palestine Gaza Hamas UK Palestine Action

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UN warns of ‘chaotic’ Afghan refugee-return crisis and calls for urgent international action

Updated 11 July 2025
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UN warns of ‘chaotic’ Afghan refugee-return crisis and calls for urgent international action

  • More than 40,000 people arriving from Iran each day, reaching a high of 50,000 on July 4, as more than 1.6m refugees return from there and Pakistan so far this year
  • ‘Handled with calm, foresight and compassion, returns can be a force for stability. Handled haphazardly, they will lead to instability, unrest and onward movements,’ agency says
Updated 11 July 2025
Ephrem Kossaify

NEW YORK CITY: With more than 1.6 million Afghans returning to their home country from Iran and Pakistan so far this year, the UN Refugee Agency warned on Thursday that the scale and intensity of the mass returns are creating a humanitarian emergency in a country already gripped by poverty, drought and insecurity.

Arafat Jamal, UNHCR’s representative in Afghanistan, on Friday described the situation as “evolving and chaotic,” as he urged countries in the region and the wider international community to urgently commit resources, show restraint and coordinate their efforts to avoid further destabilization of Afghanistan and the region.

“We are calling for restraint, for resources, for dialogue and international cooperation,” he said.

“Handled with calm, foresight and compassion, returns can be a force for stability. Handled haphazardly, they will lead to instability, unrest and onward movements.”

According to UNHCR figures, more than 1.3 million people have returned from Iran alone since the start of this year, many of them under coercive or involuntary circumstances.

In recent days, arrivals at the Islam Qala crossing on the border with Iran have peaked at more than 40,000 people a day, with a high of 50,000 recorded on July 4.

Jamal warned that many of the returnees, often born abroad and unfamiliar with Afghanistan, arrive “tired, disoriented, brutalized and often in despair.” He raised particular concern about the fate of women and girls who arrive in a country where their fundamental rights are severely restricted.

Iran has signaled its intention to expel as many as 4 million Afghans, a move UNHCR predicts could double the number of returnees by the end of the year. Jamal said the agency is now preparing for up to 3 million arrivals this year. Afghanistan remains ill-equipped to absorb such large numbers.

“This is precarity layered upon poverty, on drought, on human-rights abuses, and on an unstable region,” Jamal said, citing a UN Development Programme report that found 70 percent of

Afghans live at subsistence levels, and a recent drought alert from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

UNHCR’s humanitarian response is severely underfunded, with just 28 percent of its operations financed so far this year. Jamal described agonizing decisions being made in the field, including reductions of food rations and other aid supplies: “Should we give one blanket instead of four to a family? One meal instead of three?”

Despite the strained resources, Jamal said the agency is still providing emergency food and water, shelter and transportation at reception centers, and working with partners such as UNICEF to address the needs of unaccompanied children, about 400 of whom were reportedly deported from Iran in just over two weeks.

Pressed on how the UN can support peace and development in a country where women face widespread discrimination, and access to education and healthcare is limited, Jamal acknowledged the severe challenges but defended the organization’s continued engagement.

“Yes, this is the worst country in the world for women’s rights,” he said. “Yet with adequate funding, the UN is able to reach women. We’ve built women-only markets, trained midwives, and supported women entrepreneurs.

“We must invest in the people of Afghanistan, even in these grim circumstances.”

He added that the Taliban, despite their own restrictions and resource constraints, have so far welcomed the returnees and facilitated UN operations at the border.

UNHCR is now appealing for a coordinated regional strategy and renewed donor support. Jamal highlighted positive examples of regional cooperation, such as trade initiatives by Uzbekistan, as potential models for this.

He also welcomed a recent UN General Assembly resolution calling for the voluntary, safe and dignified return of refugees, and increased international collaboration on the issue.

“Billions have been wasted on war,” he said. “Now is the time to invest in peace.”

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Philippine president to meet Trump in Washington this month

Updated 11 July 2025
Ellie Aben
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Philippine president to meet Trump in Washington this month

  • Security, tariff issues will be priorities when Marcos meets Trump, expert says
  • Manila, Washington have increasingly boosted defense engagements in recent years
Updated 11 July 2025
Ellie Aben

MANILA: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will visit Washington this month, the Philippine Foreign Ministry said on Friday, making this the first trip of a Southeast Asian leader since Donald Trump took office.

The trip, which follows Trump’s tariffs announcement earlier this week, will take place from July 20 to 22, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, adding that details of the visit are not yet finalized.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez told reporters that Marcos is the “first ASEAN head of state invited by Trump,” referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Trade and security will likely be the focus of discussions, according to Prof. Ranjit Sing Rye, president of OCTA Research.

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“I think it’s a very significant meeting of both leaders of the Philippines and the US, especially at this time when there’s so much dynamics in the … South China Sea,” Rye told Arab News.

“It signifies and symbolizes the broadening and deepening of US-Philippine relations under the Trump administration.”

Tensions have continued to run high between the Philippines and China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which billions of dollars of goods pass each year.

Manila and Beijing have been involved in frequent maritime confrontations in recent years, with China maintaining its expansive claims of the area, despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling the historical assertion to it had no basis.

The US has a seven-decade-old mutual defense treaty with the Philippines and Washington has repeatedly warned that a Chinese attack on Filipino ships could trigger a US military response.

Philippine and US forces have increasingly upped mutual defense engagements, including large-scale combat exercises in the Philippines.

Manila is also sending trade officials to the US next week to hold further negotiations on tariffs, after Trump raised a planned tariff on Philippine exports to the US to 20 percent from 17 percent.

It is not immediately clear if the Marcos visit will coincide with that of Manila’s tariff-negotiating team.

“Over the next three years, there will be, in my view, a broadening and deepening of US-Philippine relations on many levels, not just economic, not just socioeconomic, but also in trade, but also in security relations,” Rye said.

“And maybe some of these details will be threshed out during that meeting.”

This will be Marcos’ third visit to the US since he became president in 2022.

His last trip was in April 2024, when he met with then President Joe Biden and former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the first trilateral summit among the treaty allies. 

Topics: Philippines US US President Donald Trump

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