ASEAN continues to affirm its central role

In addition to discussing internal issues, the ASEAN Summit and related conferences taking place in Laos are also an opportunity for the Association to affirm its central role.

Plenary session of the 44th ASEAN Summit. (Photo: Dinh Bac)

Codified in the ASEAN Charter, ASEAN centrality can be seen as the leadership that sets the stage for regional consultation and influence, or shapes the way relevant issues are discussed.

In the context of major countries all having ambitions to build regional structures in their own way but lacking mutual trust, ASEAN has the opportunity to demonstrate its power to "convene" countries within and outside the region.

Supported by external partners, especially the US and China, ASEAN has been successful in operating ASEAN-led cooperation mechanisms, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the East Asia Summit (EAS), and ASEAN+X. X includes countries and partners such as the US, China, Japan, South Korea, Canada, India, the European Union (EU), etc.

ASEAN’s ambition is not limited to Southeast Asia, and more broadly, the Asia-Pacific region, but rather to participating in solving global challenges. On the path to realizing that goal, this year’s Summit focused on discussing one of the key contents: enhancing strategic autonomy and self-reliance, consolidating ASEAN’s central role, and promoting regional connectivity.

Faced with non-traditional security challenges and hot issues, such as armed conflicts outside the region but with global impacts, ASEAN has also made efforts to demonstrate its pioneering role in establishing mechanisms for conflicting parties to sit down together, especially when bilateral dialogues are difficult to conduct due to disagreements.

Promoting ASEAN centrality is not always easy, but each ASEAN summit is a step towards the Association's goal of being a "game-changer".

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/asean-tiep-tuc-khang-dinh-vai-tro-trung-tam-289549.html