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  • 16 Jul 2025
    • Asean
    • Timor-Leste

    Timor-Leste is ready for ASEAN, but is ASEAN ready for what comes next?

    Vu Lam
    The bloc’s inability to mediate even among its members highlights a structural blind spot: it can convene, but not intervene, even when regional cohesion is at stake.
  • 14 Jul 2025
    • Asean
    • Myanmar
    • Global Issues

    Can Malaysia nudge ASEAN beyond non-interference to tackle the scam crisis in Myanmar?

    Liu Weiyi , Asha Hemrajani
    Traditional principles are clashing with urgent need for coordinated response to the threat of transnational crime.
  • 30 Jun 2025
    • Asean
    • Global Economy
    • Technology

    QR payments: The ASEAN way

    Hilman Palaon
    Southeast Asia is leapfrogging global leaders and setting the new standard for digital payments.
  • 26 Jun 2025
    • Asean
    • Cambodia
    • Thailand
    • Diplomacy

    Personality over protocol: Thailand-Cambodia tensions reveal ASEAN’s quiet crisis

    Vu Lam
    Hun Sen’s leaked recording of Thai PM exposes how unregulated informal diplomacy can threaten regional stability.
  • 24 Jun 2025
    • Asean
    • Malaysia
    • Timor-Leste

    Halfway through Malaysia’s watch, ASEAN expands its ambition

    Simran Walia
    Growing the regional bloc with Timor-Leste’s membership has been more than a decade in the making.
  • 23 Jun 2025
    • Asean
    • Syria

    The role for ASEAN in Syria’s restoration

    Kurniawan Arif Maspul
    The quiet diplomacy model practised by the Southeast Asian grouping complements efforts by other powers and offers much to gain.
  • 20 Jun 2025
    • Asean
    • Cambodia
    • Indonesia
    • Laos
    • Malaysia
    • Myanmar
    • Philippines
    • Singapore
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam

    Myanmar and ASEAN’s parallel diplomacy trap

    Vu Lam
    In Southeast Asia, national imperatives are increasingly outweighing regional cohesion.
  • 19 Jun 2025
    • Asia
    • Asean
    • Australia

    No Trump photo-op for the PM but a reminder where Australia’s future lies

    Leigh Howard
    The cancelled G7 meeting is a timely reminder that Australia’s most promising opportunities lie in deeper engagement with our region.
  • 5 Jun 2025
    • Asean
    • France

    France seeks third way between US and China in Southeast Asia

    Céline Pajon
    The French leader sent a message of partnership but gave few concrete details on sustained engagement plans.
  • 3 Jun 2025
    • Asia
    • Asean
    • India
    • Japan
    • South Korea
    • Trade
    • United States

    The tariff war that’s accelerating Asia’s trade transformation

    Vu Lam
    As the deadline for suspension looms, regional economies are looking to patch the vulnerabilities of regional economic architecture.
  • 2 Jun 2025
    • Asia
    • Asean
    • China
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • United States

    No one’s world: The Global South is navigating a post-American order

    Alldo Fellix Januardy
    Global influence no longer flows solely from dominant capitals – and power itself is changing shape.
  • 26 May 2025
    • Asean
    • Australia
    • Asylum seekers and refugees

    Australia’s role in preventing the next Andaman Sea refugee catastrophe

    Tri Nuke Pudjiastuti , Christy Kumesan , Caitlin McCaffrie , Naparat Kranrattanasuit
    Regional reforms since the 2015 maritime crisis show progress, but gaps in coordination threaten vulnerable populations.
  • 2 May 2025
    • Asean
    • Japan
    • Philippines
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • South China Sea
    • United States

    How the Squad risks upending ASEAN norms

    Vincent Kyle Parada
    Is minilateralism really the way forward for the Indo-Pacific?
  • 24 Apr 2025
    • Asean
    • Australian trade, investment & economy
    • Global Economy
    • Trade
    • United States

    Economic diplomacy: Trump era transcends economics

    Greg Earl
    The International Monetary Fund and Australia have found some welcome security amid growing geopolitical fragmentation.
  • 24 Apr 2025
    • Asean

    In US-China rivalry, Southeast Asia is no one’s prize. Why do we insist otherwise?

    Elina Noor
    That no relationship can be simplified to a dichotomy should be blindingly obvious.
  • 10 Apr 2025
    • Asean
    • Australian trade, investment & economy
    • Trade
    • United States

    Tariffs or temporary pause: ASEAN’s big choice

    Greg Earl
    How Southeast Asian nations respond to Donald Trump’s economic coercion matters for the world and Australia.
  • 10 Apr 2025
    • Asean
    • Climate change

    The US has backed out of the Just Energy Transition Partnerships. Southeast Asia should double down

    Melinda Stuart
    The region has a chance to take charge of its own clean energy solutions.
  • 9 Apr 2025
    • Asean
    • Trade
    • BRICS
    • United States

    A tariffying shift for the ASEAN market

    Niaz Asadullah , Doris Liew
    The US is driving away friends and accelerating a process of diversification.
  • 3 Apr 2025
    • Asean
    • Indonesia
    • Australia

    What difference will the election outcome make to Australia ties with Southeast Asia?

    Susannah Patton
    Four issues to watch in how each party would approach the region, and how countries could react.
  • 2 Apr 2025
    • Asean
    • Global Issues
    • Sustainability

    With 121 million smokers, Southeast Asia should turn to AI to help quit the habit

    Mochammad Fadjar Wibowo , Muhammad Daniel Azlan Mahadzir , Elyssa Liu
    Technology advances give ASEAN the opportunity to enhance tobacco controls and encourage a healthy way.
  • 12 Mar 2025
    • Asia
    • Asean
    • Japan
    • Singapore
    • Australia
    • Climate change
    • Sustainability
    • Technology

    Artificial intelligence and sustainability in the Asia-Pacific

    Melinda Stuart
    With the right strategies, AI and clean energy can work in harmony, driving progress without compromising the planet.
  • 6 Mar 2025
    • Asean
    • Sex and Gender

    Imagine a first for ASEAN, a woman as the Secretary-General

    Mutiara Indriani , Lucy Klein
    The Southeast Asian grouping has made strides in gender equality but a female leader would be an important step.
  • 28 Feb 2025
    • Asean
    • Russia

    Russia’s ASEAN embrace

    Emil Avdaliani
    Moscow has increasingly looked to Southeast Asia for friends, even as distance and sanctions hamper ties.
  • 17 Feb 2025
    • Asean
    • Indonesia
    • Climate change

    Indonesia’s climate retreat puts the region’s green future at risk

    Mutiara Indriani
    Jakarta’s ambivalence is a litmus test for ASEAN’s climate solidarity.
  • 14 Feb 2025
    • Asean
    • Southeast Asia
    • Technology

    US restriction is chipping away ASEAN’s semiconductor future

    Doris Liew
    Southeast Asia needs to look at expanding and diversifying its semiconductor ecosystem beyond just manufacturing.
  • 11 Feb 2025
    • Asean
    • Trade
    • Canada

    Canada should look to ASEAN

    Imran Shamsunahar
    Diversifying partners offers a path to autonomy.
  • 10 Feb 2025
    • Asean
    • Myanmar

    Escaping the ASEAN paralysis on Myanmar

    Aniello Iannone
    International organisations are often instruments for consolidating state power rather than agents of transformation, and ASEAN is no exception.
  • 4 Feb 2025
    • Asean
    • South China Sea
    • Defence & Security

    Securing Southeast Asian waters: Formalising the role of the ASEAN Coast Guard Forum

    Su Wai Mon , Thư Nguyễn Hoàng Anh , Jonathan Gabriel Mendoza
    Transparency, open communications, and a mutual understanding of shared maritime security challenges is the goal.
  • 31 Jan 2025
    • Asean
    • Indonesia

    Indonesia must reclaim its ASEAN leadership

    Klaus Heinrich Raditio
    Jakarta’s deft powers of shuttle diplomacy could revive a bloc that is increasingly at risk of becoming irrelevant.
  • 28 Jan 2025
    • Aid & Development
    • Asia
    • Asean
    • Timor-Leste

    ASEAN’s new developmental divide

    Grace Stanhope
    The admission of Timor-Leste will recall quarter-century-old unease about the development gap within the association.
  • 15 Jan 2025
    • Asean
    • Malaysia

    Can Malaysia drive ASEAN like the pony express?

    Richard Javad Heydarian
    Or does the regional grouping remain stuck in the stable?
  • 3 Jan 2025
    • Asia
    • Asean
    • Australia
    • Australia and Asia

    Australia and ASEAN: A storied history

    Sue Thompson
    After 50 years of dialogue, the relationship has matured on economic, political, and strategic interests.
  • 13 Dec 2024
    • Asean
    • Australia and Asia
    • Diplomacy
    • Foreign Policy

    Diplomacy the Southeast Asian way

    Izzah Ibrahim
    How ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand are making progress through informal dialogue.
  • 15 Nov 2024
    • Asean
    • Singapore
    • Southeast Asia
    • Australia and Asia
    • Energy
    • Environment
    • Sustainability

    Is Southeast Asia ready for a regional power grid?

    Hannah Lord
    Australia is in pole position to partner with the region on cross-border electricity supply.
  • 4 Nov 2024
    • Asean
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • China's Economy
    • Chinese Trade
    • Indonesia
    • Japan
    • Malaysia
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Trade

    ASEAN countries confront Chinese export glut

    Henry Storey
    Left unchecked, a saturation of Chinese goods may complicate what has otherwise been a very compelling ASEAN growth story.
  • 16 Oct 2024
    • Asean
    • Malaysia
    • Myanmar

    Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship is a catalyst, not a panacea

    Angeline Tan , Yanitha Meena Louis
    Moving beyond regional deadlocks will take more than a single year.
  • 4 Oct 2024
    • Asean

    Marking time: The ASEAN summit in Laos

    Susannah Patton
    In a world of tumult, there is something quietly reassuring about the predictable summitry of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
  • 24 Sep 2024
    • Asia
    • Asean
    • Timor-Leste
    • Australia

    Timor-Leste joins the Asia Power Index

    Jack Sato , Susannah Patton
    Despite its small size, the Southeast Asian nation should not be underestimated.
  • 22 Aug 2024
    • Asean
    • Indonesia
    • Climate change
    • Environment
    • Sustainability

    Southeast Asia’s great haze: Laggards and leaders

    Pia Dannhauer
    Indonesia is the region’s biggest producer of haze, so why was it the last to ratify ASEAN’s pollution prevention agreement?
  • 20 Aug 2024
    • Asean
    • Australia and Asia
    • Climate change
    • Environment
    • International law

    Australia–ASEAN maritime cooperation: A focus on the whole risks losing sight of the parts

    Thư Nguyễn Hoàng Anh
    Tailored programs accounting for individual country needs will have greater influence.
  • 2 Aug 2024
    • Asean
    • Malaysia
    • BRICS

    Will Malaysia build ASEAN with BRICS?

    Shankaran Nambiar
    As the next chair of the Southeast Asian grouping, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will likely share the concerns of his new BRICS partners.
  • 25 Jul 2024
    • Asean
    • Southeast Asia
    • Human rights
    • Migration

    Child marriage in Southeast Asia: When a harmful practice becomes an international crime

    Leisha Lister , Indira Rosenthal
    ASEAN can lead the way in tackling a practice that regularly results in the trafficking of persons.
  • 25 Jul 2024
    • Asean
    • Bangladesh
    • India
    • Myanmar
    • Asylum seekers and refugees

    Could BIMSTEC be the answer to the Myanmar question?

    Arkoprabho Hazra
    With a new charter and fresh ambition, a little-known regional organisation has as big summit coming up in September.
  • 23 Jul 2024
    • Asean
    • Indonesia
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    ASEAN centrality stands in the way of an Indonesia-Australia alliance

    Pia Dannhauer
    While Jakarta’s non-alignment approach makes a pact unlikely any time soon, common strategic objectives can still be achieved.
  • 30 May 2024
    • Asean
    • India
    • Malaysia
    • Southeast Asia

    Does India’s Act East Policy matter to Southeast Asia?

    Yanitha Meena Louis , Jaideep Singh
    Ties with Malaysia make a powerful case study to assess regional ties with the South Asian giant. But others are doing better.
  • 16 May 2024
    • Asean
    • China
    • India
    • Southeast Asia
    • Australia
    • Australia's Economy
    • Papua New Guinea

    Economic diplomacy: Budgeting for deglobalisation

    Greg Earl
    Keeping up with the worldwide shift to industry policy is stretching boundaries of both economics and diplomacy.
  • 15 May 2024
    • Asean
    • China
    • South China Sea

    A code of conduct won’t solve the South China Sea crisis

    Rahman Yaacob
    Sub-optimal negotiations are likely to lead to a sub-standard agreement.
  • 29 Apr 2024
    • Asean
    • India
    • Southeast Asia

    Why India’s Global South ambitions must turn to Southeast Asia

    Rahul Mishra , Yanitha Meena Louis
    An important part of seamless communication is still missing – and this carries a regional cost.
  • 17 Apr 2024
    • Asean
    • Southeast Asia
    • Human rights
    • Migration
    • Transnational Challenges

    Invisible victims: How counter-trafficking efforts leave people with disability behind

    Elisabeth Jackson
    It is often those who should be responsible for protecting people with disabilities who exploit them.
  • 11 Apr 2024
    • Asean
    • South China Sea
    • Cyber Security
    • Cyber Warfare
    • Emerging Threats
    • Maritime Security
    • Technology

    ASEAN and the military applications of AI

    Ngô Di Lân
    While artificial intelligence can be used to magnify lethal force, it can also promote regional peace and stability.
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