NUNZIUM

The ASEAN Summit is a meeting held by the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) about the economic, political, security, and socio-cultural development of Southeast Asian countries. Current members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The ASEAN summit serves as a regional and international conference, with world leaders attending its related summits and meetings to discuss various problems and global issues, strengthen cooperation, and make decisions. This year's summit is one of the first international in-person summits after the Covid-19 pandemic period. Held in Phnom Penh, it anticipates by a few days the G20 (to happen in Bali). The chair nation this year was Cambodia, a long-term ally of China on the international scene. Since 2020 Cambodia agreed on free trade with China and now acts as an entry point for the evolving China-ASEAN relationship. For China, ASEAN represents the first economic partner and vice versa. Despite a flourishing economical relationship, some territorial issues with a few ASEAN countries remain over regions adjacent to the South China Sea. US president Joe Biden was also present at the meeting and set up meetings with many leaders to pitch his country as a better partner, intending to quench the growing Chinese presence in the area. Similarly, leaders from Australia, Japan, and South Korea attended the meeting to strengthen relationships. Another relevant international player, Russia, sent Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who had four meetings with leaders from Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, and Viet Nam. In a plenary speech, he blamed the US and NATO for ramping up activity in South East Pacific to destabilize the region. The US and Russian delegations did not reach a joint statement, confirming divergence between the two countries a few days ahead of the G20 meeting. Official statements by ASEAN members reaffirmed that Myanmar remains an integral part of the alliance, despite the internal issues and the military in control of the country. They also accepted in principle to admit Timor-Leste to be the 11th member of ASEAN and granted an observer status to Timor Leste allowing its participation in all Meetings including at the Summit plenaries. Overall, ASEAN countries are trying to build a bloc, but they appear rather scattered when it comes to relevant international relations. This mutual respect may also be aimed to avoid additional conflicts in the area.