Meeting of ASEAN countries: summit in times of international tension

There’s a lot to talk about at the ASEAN summit in Cambodia: the Ukraine war, the conflict in Myanmar and the US-China power struggle in Southeast Asia. All eyes are on US President Biden.

One by one the heads of government arrive in their private planes and set off in armored vehicles towards the conference center. This ASEAN meeting is under special scrutiny because US President Joe Biden has also announced his presence. Russian President Vladimir Putin is sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is already there.

“ASEAN countries have achieved great things”

At the beginning of the summit, he signed the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. The ASEAN countries signed the peace treaty in 1976. Among other things, the agreement obliges the parties to mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nations involved.

The ASEAN countries have achieved great things since their inception, says Frederick Kliem, a political scientist at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “We have a region here that could hardly be more diverse, where civil interaction, dialogue and indeed peace and stability are anything but to be expected. And ASEAN has already managed to bring stability and peace here.”

Too little commitment to Myanmar

In the case of Myanmar, however, they have failed for the time being. The military junta overthrew the country’s democratically elected government in February last year. Since then, thousands of people have been killed, civilians have been fired on from the air by the military, and democracy activists have been hanged. The ASEAN countries have been heavily criticized internationally for not doing enough to counteract the violence in their neighboring country.

However, the association has few options, says political scientist Kliem: “There is no ASEAN military. There are no peacekeeping troops that could be deployed, although there have been suggestions several times. And it is difficult to end this conflict without military action. ” This is where the international community comes in, the United Nations, according to Kliem.

Despite the ASEAN countries pursuing a policy of non-interference in internal affairs, they have uninvited the head of the military junta for this summit. Min Aung Hlaing has so far ignored a jointly approved five-point plan. In addition to their empty chair policy, the states could isolate Myanmar even more and break off all business relations, says Kliem: “But some ASEAN states have not yet made up their minds to do so.” In addition, Russia and China support the military in Myanmar.

The US and China are fighting for influence

In addition to the crisis in Myanmar, the growing conflict between the world powers USA and China is a major topic at the ASEAN summit, says political scientist and former UN Security Council President Kishore Mahbubani:

Because the USA is not only an important economic partner like China, but also the security guarantor of the region. The ASEAN countries therefore do not want to have to choose between the USA and China, but rather work with one and the other.

Chinese charm offensive

The fact that US President Biden is attending the ASEAN summit this year is an important sign, says political scientist Dewi Fortuna Anwar. The long absence of the United States harmed American interests. China, on the other hand, seized the opportunity and launched a broad charm offensive.

China’s Premier Li Keqiang emphasized on the eve of the summit that China and the ASEAN group are strategic partners and each other’s largest trading partner. “China now has more support in Southeast Asia. The US has to show itself if it wants to remain relevant,” Anwar said. Southeast Asian countries have also benefited from the conflict between the USA and China. Some international companies have withdrawn from China and relocated to Vietnam, Thailand or Malaysia to avoid US sanctions.

Hope for the “Indonesian engine”

This year’s ASEAN summit is the first face-to-face meeting of the Southeast Asian countries since the beginning of the corona pandemic. The current Cambodian chairman has done his job well, says political scientist Kliem. But he has even more hopes in Indonesia, the next ASEAN leader.

With more than 270 million inhabitants, Indonesia is the largest country in Southeast Asia and the fourth largest in the world. Kliem emphasizes that it has brought ASEAN further and further forward: “In Europe they say there is this Franco-German engine of the EU, but in ASEAN it is definitely the Indonesian engine.” And he’s just warming up – as mediator and host of next week’s G20 summit in Bali.