00:00Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. tells the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN,
00:06we must not allow our differences to divide us from within.
00:09Teodoro was clearly referring to the disputes over the South China Sea that has seen increasing tension between China and
00:15ASEAN nations.
00:16In a fragmenting world, our internal stability and intra-ASEAN unity are vital.
00:27Perhaps even in the future existential.
00:31The ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting or ADMM and the ADMM Plus is an annual gathering of defense ministers from Southeast
00:38Asia and PLUS countries.
00:40This includes ADMM Dialogue Partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, and the United States.
00:48China's Minister of National Defense Dong Jun will not be attending ADMM Plus.
00:52Beijing will instead be represented by its defense attache assigned to the Chinese Embassy in Manila.
00:57Regional security as well as bloc cooperation over issues like disaster risk reduction will be among the key issues defense
01:04officials are expected to tackle in meetings and sideline events.
01:08Ministers are also expected to tackle protection of underwater critical infrastructure, cooperation for food and energy security, and preparedness for
01:15the Super El Niño.
