Singapore, a regional financial centre and a key player in the global semiconductor industry, is currently reliant on oil and natural gas.

Blinken was in Manila with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as part of an Asia-Pacific tour to strengthen Washington's latticework of alliances aimed at countering Beijing.

US treaty ally the Philippines has repeatedly sparred at sea with China, the main US rival in the Indo-Pacific, this past year, but the two sides have now reached a "provisional arrangement" to ease tensions and manage differences.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts in the so-called Quad grouping issued a joint statement calling for a "free and open" Pacific after talks in Tokyo.

The US announced plans on Sunday for a major revamp of its military command in Japan to deepen coordination with its ally's forces.

Southeast Asia’s top diplomats expressed their anxieties over the weekend about the risk of an “emerging arms race” in the region, as tensions between global powers persist with ever more countries seeking to throw their hats into the Indo-Pacific ring.

The Philippines and China last week announced a "provisional agreement" on Manila's resupply missions to its contingent of troops on a naval ship grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal, after repeated clashes between vessels that have caused regional concerns about an escalation of hostilities.

The US hailed the meeting as "open and productive," after Blinken had criticized Beijing's "escalatory and unlawful actions" in the South China Sea, while Chinese FM Wang said that the US should "refrain from fanning the flames, stirring up trouble and undermining stability at sea."

The MT Terra Nova sank in bad weather in the busy waterway early Thursday, killing one crew member and leaving the country potentially facing its worst oil spill disaster.

During a series of ASEAN meetings, "the Secretary's conversations will continue to build upon the unprecedented deepening and expansion of US-ASEAN ties", the State Department said in a statement shortly before Blinken touched down in Vientiane.

The family of Chinese shuttler Zhang Zhi Jie has requested more time before Indonesian authorities and the  PBSI send his body back to China.

The Myanmar crisis has dogged ASEAN and dented its credibility as the junta pays lip-service to ASEAN's calls to implement its "five-point consensus", whereby all sides cease hostilities and start dialogue.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement after his talks with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Vientiane that the pair had discussed issues of cooperation within ASEAN "in detail".

Navigating regional tensions sparked by the United States-China rivalry and the unabated territorial dispute in the South China Sea have become important talking points in the early days of the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, with top diplomats urging the bloc to remain united in dialogues with external partners.

One crew member of the MT Terra Nova was killed when the tanker capsized in Manila Bay, nearly seven kilometres (4.3 miles) off Limay municipality in Bataan province, as it sailed to the central city of Iloilo.

The global average surface air temperature rose to 17.15 degrees Celsius — 0.06 degrees higher than Sunday's marginal record according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which has been tracking such patterns since 1940. 

The ruling comes just weeks after a Cambodian court sentenced a group of environmental activists to up to eight years in jail for plotting against the government and insulting the king.

The typhoon -- the strongest to hit Taiwan in eight years -- had already forced authorities on the island to close schools and offices, suspend the stock market and evacuate thousands of people.

Due to the delay, the top US diplomat will no longer attend the funeral on Friday of Vietnam's late leader Nguyen Phu Trong.

Addressing the meeting of the SEANFWZ Commission during the ongoing ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the Foreign Minister has urged ASEAN states to do more in pushing for a nonnuclear world, noting the weakening commitment among nuclear-armed states to noproliferation and disarmament deals.

The typhoon also triggered flooding and landslides in the nearby Philippines, where authorities said four people were killed south of the capital Manila.

Hopes are not high that the talks in Vientiane will result in significant progress on the South China Sea issue, such as a code of conduct (COC) for nations operating in the body of water, but analysts warn that ASEAN must at least refrain from backpedaling on its existing position.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the event where he will "discuss the importance of adherence to international law in the South China Sea", according to the US State Department.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the man was charged with one count of child trafficking, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in jail.

Blinken and Austin will hold security talks with US allies Japan and the Philippines. Blinken will also visit Singapore and Mongolia, and stop in Vietnam for the funeral of Nguyen Phu Trong, head of the ruling Communist Party, who died last week.

The resupply arrangement followed talks with Beijing this month when the countries agreed to "de-escalate tensions" and increase the number of communication channels to resolve maritime disagreements between them.

Trong was educated in the Soviet Union and was regarded as a Marxist-Leninist ideologue, but he nonetheless nurtured ties with the United States.

The Indonesian diplomatic corps is readying itself for a week of ministerial-level meetings on ASEAN in Vientiane next week, amid simmering tensions in the region and several unresolved negotiations critical to Southeast Asia’s security. 

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Monday met with visiting Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape to emphasize the importance of cooperation in security and development, amid simmering tensions in the region and Jakarta’s increased emphasis on maintaining ties with its Pacific island neighbors.

A preliminary examination found no evidence of injuries related to a fight or theft but suggested all six had ingested a toxic substance, police said.