Can Asia save the sinking world economy?
Visitors pass away their time outside the SM Mall of Asia, the world's third largest shopping mall, in Manila, Philippines. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Choong Yong Ahn, Chung-Ang University

Since the fourth quarter of 2010, the global economy has faced serious uncertainty and a turbulent outlook.

Both the US and Europe have gloomy growth prospects due to a lack of credible medium-term plans for debt reduction in the US and the sovereign debt crisis in southern Europe. Read more…

International financial crises and the ASEAN economies
Public road infrastructure and building construction rise up at Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta on December 12, 2011. A week earlier The Asian Development Bank trimmed its 2012 growth forecast for emerging East Asian economies as the eurozone turmoil threatens to drag the global economy back into crisis. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Arief Ramayandi, ADB

The slow resolution of the European debt crisis has evolved into a liquidity problem which threatens the global financial system.

And these long-drawn-out efforts to address the sovereign debt problems have heightened uncertainties about resolving the crisis and induced speculative activities, threatening the survival of many European banks. Read more…

The US in the EAS: implications for US–ASEAN relations
US President Barack Obama applauds with Southeast Asian leaders, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (L), Philippines President Benigno Aquino (2nd L) and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (R), during a group photo session for the leaders of the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua in Bali, Indonesia, on 19 November, 2011. (Photo: AAP).

Author: Ralf Emmers, RSIS

The US recently participated in the East Asia Summit (EAS) for the first time — a decision that has wider implications for US–ASEAN relations.

The decision to join the EAS is part of a recalibration of US foreign policy vis-à-vis ASEAN-led multilateral institutions. This shift in policy reflects a broader attempt by the US to re-engage with Southeast Asia — after years of perceived indifference — and is equally related to China’s growing influence in the Asia Pacific region. Read more…

The United States and the East Asia Summit: a new beginning?
US President Barack Obama (R) listens as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L) speaks during their meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia summits in Bali, on November 19, 2011. Obama held unscheduled talks with Premier Wen after a week of sharp exchanges between the two nations.

Authors: David Capie, Victoria University; and Amitav Acharya, American University

This week President Obama will join seventeen other Asian leaders in Bali for the Sixth East Asia Summit (EAS).

With a tough economy at home and the decision of the Congressional ‘super-committee’ on the federal budget only days away, this is hardly a good time for a US president to be out of the country. Obama’s decision to participate in the EAS for the first time in Bali is therefore a powerful symbol of a shift in American policy towards Asia. It also says much about the evolving nature of regional cooperation. Read more…

ASEAN’s newer members and the Asian noodle bowl
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen addresses journalists after the tripartite meeting with Thailand and Indonesia during the ASEAN Summit at the Jakarta Convention Centre, Indonesia 08 May 2011.

Author: Jayant Menon, ADB

When discussing Laos’ upcoming ASEAN membership with a senior government official in 1995, he insisted the reason his country wanted to join the regional organisation was because Vietnam had just done so.

The response revealed two things. First, Laos, like its neighbouring ASEAN aspirants at the time — Cambodia and Myanmar — did not want to be left behind, and wanted out of the economic wilderness by joining ‘the club’. Second, there was very little appreciation of what membership would entail, let alone what it could evolve into. Read more…

The sixth East Asia Summit: keeping up the neighbourhood
Foreign ministers and government officials attend the US-ASEAN Regional Forum in Nusa Dua in Bali on 23 July 23 2011. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Maria Monica Wihardja, CSIS, Jakarta

The sixth East Asia Summit (EAS) will take place on 19 November in Bali, with its newest members — the US and Russia — breathing new life into the forum.

While the Summit’s original objective of serving as a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic issues remains important, the US and Russia’s inclusion has now opened an opportunity for greater geopolitical security dialogue. Read more…

US-China power play puts heat on ASEAN
The newly acquired and refurbished Hamilton-class cutter Grogorio del Pilar is docked at Pier 13, South Harbor, in Manila on 23 August, 2011. Philippine President Benigno Aquino vowed a stronger military defence of Philippine South China Sea claims as their newest warship sailed into Manila Bay from the United States. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Evelyn Goh, University of London

After nearly a year of tensions over conflicting territorial claims, East Asian waters have calmed significantly.

At last month’s ASEAN meetings, China and the ASEAN nations agreed on guidelines for implementing the 2002 Declaration of Conduct to govern their activities in the South China Sea. Read more…

South China Sea dispute: Why China takes a pragmatic stance
The South Korean and Chinese coast guards sign an accord at the West Sea Maritime Police Agency in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, South Korea, on 23 August 2011 to jointly crack down on Chinese fishing boats violating South Korean waters. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Yang Fang, RSIS

At the 23 July ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Bali, China and ASEAN agreed on a set of guidelines to better implement their 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). This set of guidelines promises to narrow the disputes over territorial sovereignty in the Sea.

This development at the ARF is considered a big step towards the peaceful resolution of the dispute. Read more…

Asian leadership and the global economic crisis
Foreign Ministers and delegates from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attend the ASEAN Ministerial meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, July 19, 2011. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, EAF

In East Asia, as elsewhere in the world, the risks that we continue to face in recovery from the global financial crisis, economically and politically, are a consequence not only of failure in national governance but also in the architecture of international governance, including regional architecture.

Failures that frustrated a coherent East Asian and international response to the big problems of the day (including payments imbalances, financial market reform, trade and exchange rate issues) in their global context. Read more…

Asia’s evolving economic institutions: Roles and future prospects
Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (L) toasts with ASEAN leaders and dialogue partners (R) at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders gala dinner in Hanoi, Vietnam, 29 October 2010. (Second from L-R) Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard, partner Tim Mathieson Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah , Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, China Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Wendy Dobson, University of Toronto

With no clear leader and few strong incentives for deep integration, Asian cooperation for the foreseeable future is likely to be intergovernmental, with little pooling of sovereignty to create supranational institutions or agree common rules and disciplines.

As Asia’s weight in the world economy grows, however, its interests will also be served by a strong commitment to global institutions. Read more…

ASEAN’s talk shop function and US engagement
The recent series of ASEAN foreign ministers’ meetings, including the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held in Bali last month, proved that ASEAN’s talk shop function is still of some value. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Takashi Terada, Waseda University

ASEAN’s function is often described as being limited to a ‘talk shop’ that merely provides venues where ministers and leaders from larger states join together to exchange views on regional security and economic issues.

So long as the so-called ‘ASEAN Way’ — which informally stipulates non-intervention, non-binding and consensus-based decision-making approaches to regional cooperation — is maintained, ASEAN’s major role will not go beyond hosting the ‘talk shop’. Yet the talk shop’s value could be enhanced if delegates discussed the hard issues, regardless of whether any binding obligations ensued. Read more…

Has Thailand’s election empowered ASEAN anew?
Supporters of Yingluck Shinawatra shout slogans as they know the Election Commission approved her at Puea Thai Party headquarter in Bangkok on July 19, 2011. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Ernie Bower, CSIS

Elections around Southeast Asia have assumed a new and empowering role in defining the region’s political outlook.

Emanating from Indonesia’s historic transition from autocracy to nascent if chaotic democracy, the people of ASEAN are using the ballot box to send strong messages. Read more…