The 47th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is opening on October 26 in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. What trends are currently defining the activities of this major international organization in the region?
Pivotal in the System of Regional Ties
Furthermore, the Association has built an entire system of dialogue partnerships with the leading centres of power in the modern world, including both individual states (Russia, the US, China, the Republic of Korea, and others) and multilateral associations and forums. The latter comprise, for instance, ASEAN’s contacts with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and meetings in the ASEAN+3 format (with the Asian “trio” – China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea).
The establishment of regular ties between ASEAN and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) should particularly be highlighted. If in the past decade the contacts could predominantly be described as rather introductory, now, in fact, they constitute a regular exchange of stances on key regional issues in East, Southeast, and Central Asia.
There is a truly wide spectrum of potential opportunities for interaction between these two international structures, ranging from the possibility of joint economic, social, and cultural initiatives to ideas for developing financial ties, taking into account the far-reaching prospects of the SCO Bank in the modern global financial landscape.
Moreover, many ASEAN member states are also participants or partners of the BRICS association. And this constitutes another direction for building reciprocally beneficial interregional dialogue. It can be institutionalized or operate in an open format, considering the expanded “BRICS-plus” format and the experience of “BRICS-outreach” dialogues. In any case, there is a plethora of opportunities for developing cooperation, and they are based on a solid foundation: both BRICS, the SCO, and other structures of the global majority, of non-Western communities, fully recognise the central role of ASEAN in Southeast Asian affairs and engage in dialogue with the countries of this region on an equal footing, respecting their international authority and inextricable, unconditional right to choose their own way of development in the modern world
A High Level of Integration
In previous decades of ASEAN’s work, political scientists around the world were often fond of juxtaposing it with European integration associations: they said that the Old Continent was a kind of benchmark for international relations, and all others were supposed to look up to it and copy the European experience. Though, it must be said, the comparisons even back then were not very successful, or to be more precise, they did not work at all. This is because multilateral cooperation in each of the world’s regions cannot, by definition, follow norms and rigid schemes written by the same politicians and experts. It will definitely differ; it cannot be predicted or forced into a single mold; it will always have its own economic, social, historical-cultural, civilizational, and even personal factors. ASEAN is no exception to this tendency. Integration in the realms of ASEAN is unique and distinctive; it is in constant development, and each member country of the Association brings something of its own to the table, a process that does not cease to the present day.
The goals the organization is oriented towards remain unaltered and are enshrined in its discourse as the “ASEAN Three Pillars”: the formation of an ASEAN Community in politics and security, an ASEAN Economic Community, and an ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Every joint document, every new dialogue format, every multilateral initiative draw near the achievement of common ASEAN goals and strengthen the unity of the Southeast Asian countries, which have long realized that together they are capable of contributing a lot to the stability and development of their region and also putting common effort and acting unanimously on the international stage.
A Blessing in Disguise
In the current year of 2025, the development of ASEAN can largely be illustrated by the Russian proverb, literally translated as “There would be no fortune, but misfortune helped”, or by an English saying “April showers bring May flowers”. The beginning of year for the organization’s member states was marked by the shadow of a looming uncertainty regarding the future economic policy of the new US presidential administration, as one of Southeast Asia’s leading trade partners. And after D. Trump took office and began introducing restrictive tariff measures, everything changed abruptly. Every single ASEAN country, having in the past imprudently made the American sector a significant part of their international trade turnover, suffered from the tariff hikes, and their currencies, due to the efforts of stock market and bank speculators, felt the unpleasant repercussions of an artificially inflated dollar exchange rate.
As a result, ASEAN today essentially faces the necessity of seeking new export markets, developing external economic partnerships other than those with the US, and cutting down on dependence on the dollar as a reserve currency. The ideas in favour of a gradual de-dollarization not only of Southeast Asia but of the whole Asia are now being voiced in an even bolder way; more and more people in the region are realizing the dire outlook for dependence on the US policy. This will involve expanding the use of national currencies in settlements, their internationalization, developing their own financial platforms and systems, and participating in non-Western multilateral financial associations. All the listed measures, put in practice in the complex, should assist the countries with building their own system of financial and economic ties, independent of external interference and shocks.
Furthermore, the US moves and decisions made many ASEAN countries “wake up and smell the coffee” in terms of getting to the realisation of how a country that just yesterday, for some reason, was reassuring them of eternal love and support, actually behaves towards them. It turns out that the US has viewed them merely as a temporary source of benefits, while not valuing them an ounce as partners and demonstrating utter indifference to their aspirations. But challenges always make a person, a nation, a state, and international structures stronger, and in this case, they will help ASEAN contemplate and reflect on its own expectations for its life’s development, its own prospects, its global goals and new tasks, and also understand by whom amidst actors on the international arena it is truly valued as an equal and significant partner, as a unique and indeed vital association of the non-Western world in Southeast Asia, and who is willing to build forward-looking and mutually beneficial partnership with them for the sake of genuine development and progress.
Ksenia Muratshina, PhD in History, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
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