SNAPSHOTS

Amid ASEAN's Inaction, the Block's Members Look to External Partners for Security

Sep 8, 2023 | 21:17 GMT

Regional leaders pose for a group photo before the ASEAN-Australia summit, held as part of the 43rd ASEAN summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sept. 7, 2023. From left to right stand the Philippines' President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand's Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sarun Charoensuwan, Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indonesia's President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, Laos' Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, Brunei's Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet, Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

(Photo by WILLY KURNIAWAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) inactivity on core issues at its most recent summit will diminish ASEAN's importance and slowly compel its members to align with China or the United States. On Sept. 5-7, Indonesia hosted the 43rd ASEAN summit and related meetings, which brought together leaders of the bloc's 10 countries (except Myanmar, whose military leaders are suspended from meetings). Heads of state from India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Canada and high-level officials from the United States, China and Russia also attended. Despite this prominent gathering of world leaders, the bloc made little progress in resolving its primary issues, including the ongoing civil war in Myanmar; instead of taking steps to enforce peace or Myanmar's adherence to the 2021 five-point consensus peace plan, ASEAN stripped Myanmar of its right to chair the bloc in 2026. Meanwhile, none of the meetings' joint statements mentioned territorial disputes in...

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