China-ASEAN Economic and Trade Ministers Meet in Manila for 25th Consultation

This consultation matters less for any single outcome than for the fact that China and ASEAN continue to convene their trade ministers on schedule, with the Philippines — a party to South China Sea frictions — in the chair. That the meeting covered free trade area development and produced broad consensus suggests the economic track is being managed separately from the security track. Whether that separation holds, and whether the consensus language translates into concrete FTA deliverables, is the open question.