By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-22 08:41:35 | Updated at 2025-03-23 01:34:33
17 hours ago
Is Southeast Asia losing its cool? That might seem like an odd question to ask about a region that straddles the equator and which, like everywhere else, is suffering from the effects of climate change. Yet the defence and neutrality debate within and beyond the region is undoubtedly heating up.
It may be too soon to speak of a drumbeat of war among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – but there is growing talk of potential conflicts and the need for “defence” rather than dialogue and defusing differences.
If anything, under the Joe Biden administration, the United States added to Southeast Asian tensions by encouraging regional alliances between nations there, especially amid Washington’s attempts to counter Chinese influence in the region.
It is unclear whether these potentially divisive policies will be continued under the Donald Trump administration but Asean members would be wise to hammer out joint policies to prevent any attempt to align them too closely with the interests of either Washington or Beijing. Strength in unity has been their policy up to now.
Since its founding by five members – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – in 1967, during the height of the US war in Vietnam, Asean has been seen as an island of relative political stability and a sort of “buffer region.”
Even as the group has grown in size to encompass more members – its population is almost 700 million strong and its combined gross domestic product stands at around US$3.8 trillion – Asean has been viewed as a model of stability and calm.
