The annual Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment released on Wednesday by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said outside industrial help remains vital even as regional nations ultimately aim for self-reliance.

Indonesia is the second leg of Macron's regional trip after Vietnam, where the two countries signed deals worth over $10 billion. He is scheduled to fly to Singapore on Thursday.

President Prabowo Subianto’s pitch to include Papua New Guinea as an ASEAN member during his debut appearance at the regional talks was likely inspired by Jakarta’s national interests and was less about elevating the group’s strength, analysts have suggested.

Indonesian representatives in the United States are preparing to provide consular assistance and suggesting that Indonesian students to stay calm amid US President Donald Trump’s policy to block Harvard University’s right to enroll international students.

The trade-dependent economies are looking to insulate themselves after US President Donald Trump blew up global trade norms by announcing a slew of tariffs targeting countries around the world this year.

The Elysee had been hoping that the visit to Vietnam would showcase France's reach into the Indo-Pacific, but it has been shadowed by the incident which occurred as the doors of the presidential plane swung open after landing in Hanoi Sunday.

Having PNG, which is Indonesia’s “close neighbor", in the bloc could help make ASEAN stronger, thus raising the bloc’s position in the global constellation, President Prabowo Subianto has said.

China and ASEAN are already each other's largest trading partners, and Chinese exports to Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam surged by double digits in April -- attributed to a re-routing of US-bound goods.

ASEAN must rise stronger or risk being disrespected by larger powers, President Prabowo Subianto said during his debut appearance at the group’s summit in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, calling on the bloc to be more forward-looking and adaptive as it faces internal and external pressures.

The South China Sea, a conduit for about $3 trillion of annual ship-borne trade, remains a source of tension between China and US ally the Philippines, with ties at their worst in years amid frequent standoffs that have sparked regional concerns they could spiral into conflict.

Footage shot by the Associated Press news agency in Hanoi on Sunday evening shows Macron's plane door opening to reveal him.

Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship has piqued interest and built up expectations of tangible outcomes, especially in longstanding issues such as overlapping claims in the South China Sea among ASEAN member states and Beijing, as well as the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.

The French president arrived in Hanoi late Sunday, the first stop of a six-day trip that will also take in Indonesia and Singapore.

Prabowo is in Kuala Lumpur to attend the first ASEAN summit of his presidency, during which he is also expected to attend the ASEAN-GCC-China Summit.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will also tackle pressing regional issues, attempting to increase pressure on Myanmar's military junta and iron out remaining issues with Timor Leste's application to join the bloc.

Russia and Ukraine completed the exchange of 1000 prisoners each on Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in the largest such swap since the war began three years ago.

The comments were a rare rebuke to Putin, and came after a record number of Russian drones killed at least 13 people across Ukraine, despite a prisoner exchange and a US push for a truce.

Timor-Leste is a step closer to fulfilling its longstanding wish to join the Southeast Asian regional bloc and could become its 11th member state by October, Malaysia's foreign minister said on Sunday.

Indonesia reiterated the need for a peaceful solution to the ongoing crisis in Myanmar during an extended troika meeting on the conflict-stricken Southeast Asian country, amid a series of ministerial meetings ahead of the upcoming ASEAN summit on Monday.

Indonesia and China have agreed to strengthen their ties after President Prabowo Subianto held a meeting with China’s Premier Li Qiang that culminated in the signing of a dozen partnership agreements and marked the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang warned on Sunday that the rise of "unilateralism and protectionism" could threaten the global economic and trade order, as he  reaffirmed Beijing's ties with Jakarta on Sunday during his visit to Indonesia ahead of a regional summit in Kuala Lumpur.

US President Donald Trump defended on Sunday his administration's move to block foreign students at Harvard after a judge suspended the action, branded by the top university as unlawful.

Malaysia's foreign minister on Sunday condemned "atrocities" in Gaza, saying they reflected "indifference and double standards" on the plight of the Palestinian people.

Helicopters were being used on Sunday to drop animal feed to farmers in Australia's New South Wales state stranded by floods that have killed five and isolated tens of thousands in the country's southeast.

China's Premier Li Qiang said on Saturday that China and Indonesia will promote "true multilateralism", the official Xinhua news agency reported, as he landed in Jakarta on a two-day visit to Southeast Asia's largest economy.

President Donald Trump is furious at Harvard, which has produced 162 Nobel prize winners, for rejecting Washington's oversight on admissions and hiring amid his claims the school is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and "woke" liberal ideology.

Russia and Ukraine each released 390 prisoners on Friday and said they would free more in the coming days, an initiative agreed in talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Turkey last week.