The End Of ASEAN As We Know It
Global Voices
By Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Director, Institute of Security & International Studies, Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Political Science: During the 2010s, Southeast Asia’s economy was fastest-growing region in the world
Harnessing this internal momentum, ASEAN took the lead in organizing regional projects for peace and security, through gatherings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the ASEAN Regional Forum, the East Asia Summit, and the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus. Corporations and investment funds formulated ASEAN-focused strategies, recognizing the region’s promise as an interconnected production hub with a combined GDP of more than $3 trillion and more than 680 million people, many of them young and comprising an expanding middle class. But this narrative of ASEAN progress has lost its luster as the geopolitical setting has changed. ASEAN’s success requires relative peace and a rough balance between the major powers in its orbit.
The End Of ASEAN As We Know It
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