From October 9 to 11 this year, a series of annual events held by the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and several other groups based on ASEAN took place in the capital of Laos, Vientiane.

On the importance of various different international platforms

In the present author’s opinion, this assessment also applies to ASEAN itself, whose leaders, have, on the contrary, missed no opportunity to insist on the “central role” of this Association. And not only in relation to affairs in Southeast Asia. It should be noted, however, that representatives of the world’s major powers never tire of speaking flattering words into the ears of the ASEAN member states. They see ASEAN as a valuable tool that could be used against geopolitical competitors.

Meanwhile, the continuing “porosity” and inefficiency of ASEAN is illustrated by the consistently low proportion of domestic trade in the economies of its members (around 25%, compared with 70% for the EU), the inability to solve the “Myanmar problem” and a number of other issues (on which more below). In fact, the “Myanmar problem” featured as one of the main issues in the recent 44th-45th ASEAN Summits.

The Chinese and Japanese Prime Ministers meet in Vientiane

This event deserves attention if only because trends in relations between Japan and China are increasingly influencing the development of the situation in the entire Indo-Pacific region. Meanwhile, in an article published at the end of September by the Hudson Institute, Shigeru Ishiba, Japan’s acting Prime Minister and new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, outlined two new theses relating to the issue national security, which had not previously been encountered in speeches by the country’s leaders. The article proposed the creation of an “Asian NATO” and the strengthening of the US-Japanese military and political alliance “on a par with the US-UK alliance”.

However, he did not........

© New Eastern Outlook