ASEAN

The  Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) was revived in 2018 in part to provide its members with an alternative source of funding to enhance connectivity in mainland Southeast Asia. Within an area congested with multilateral frameworks, overlapping agendas and an abundance of funding, ACMECS faces formidable challenges ahead to stay relevant. 

As the world grapples with the pressing and existential threat of climate change, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) needs to take more immediate action. While the agriculture sector has discussed the outcomes of COP27 in Bangkok held in December 2022, ASEAN as a body has remained conspicuously silent on its views on the outcomes of the COP27 (e.g., the Loss and Damage financial facility), its implications for Southeast Asia, and what the region should prioritize for COP28.

Indonesia picks up the theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth”. President Joko Widodo stated that: “ASEAN needs to be stable and peace, an epicentrum for global stability. ASEAN also needs to be consistent in enforcing international law and avoid being proxy to anyone. ASEAN needs to be a region of dignity that upholds high humanity and democracy”.

Southeast Asia’s transformation and navigation through the last few COVID-19-affected years now presents new challenges and opportunities. The region has grown digitally substantially, though political stability is always questionable. Climate change, energy and environmental sustainability present significant issues to address in 2023 and beyond.

The year 2022 brings in not just one or two but a handful of hot button issues to deal with for ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Between economic recovery from the pandemic through to internal civil war within Myanmar and external disputes and alliances, Cambodia assumes Chair of ASEAN with plenty to consider. ASEAN’s culture and intergovernmental model value cooperation but a different kind of multilateralism may be changing the stakes and strategies in negotiation across the ten member states.

Southeast Asia is struggling to contain the spread of COVID-19 amid a resurgence driven by the Delta variant, leaving national governments with no capacity to spare on neighbouring countries. At the same time, ASEAN faces a trust problem due to the intangible nature of regional cooperation, and capacity issues associated with the prolonged deadlock over the selection of a special envoy to deal with the political crisis in Myanmar. Nevertheless, the potential for future regional cooperation after the health crisis subsides is within view.

The hard-hit tourism industry in Southeast Asia looks for ways out of the pandemic. From promoting domestic tourism to ‘travel bubbles’ to Thailand’s Phuket Sandbox scheme to bring back international travelers, all ASEAN countries are facing novel challenges of the ‘novel’ coronavirus. What are countries doing to counter the disastrous effects on tourism? And what can countries learn from each other?

Populism, nationalism, and an intensifying rivalry between the United States and China are testing the cooperation within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). As its 10 member States battle the effects of Covid-19 amid political and territorial crises, the group has struggled to overcome internal differences and address profound external challenges.

After US-ASEAN relations suffered under Donald Trump's administration, Joe Biden now promises that US foreign policy will once again focus more on allies. What can ASEAN expect from Biden's presidency?