The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional organization that brings together neighboring countries to address economic and security issues, will hold its annual summit from October 26–28.

ASEAN currently consists of 10 members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. During the summit, the organization will formally admit Timor-Leste.

The bloc has played a central role in Asian economic integration, joining negotiations to form the world’s largest free trade agreement and signing 6 free trade deals with other governments in the region. During this year's summit, ASEAN is slated to discuss economic shifts and will likely promise more collaboration. But the organization still lacks a coherent approach to internal conflicts, international tensions, and its position in the U.S.-China trade war, argues Southeast Asia expert Joshua Kurlantzick.

“ASEAN’s limitations remain clear,” Kurlantzick writes. “Wars in Southeast Asia have spread beyond strife-torn Myanmar this year, and ASEAN has continued to reflect its weakness in mediating conflict that continue to harm the entire region and the world.”

“Another 2 members of ASEAN, Cambodia and Thailand, battled each other this past summer over a disputed border area until pushed to stop by China and the United States,” Kurlantzick writes.

“The organization has struggled, broadly, to remain regionally relevant as Southeast Asian states have found it harder to avoid U.S.-China tensions,” Kurlantzick writes.

President Donald Trump will attend the summit with the goal of overseeing a formal peace deal between Cambodia and Thailand. Chinese President Xi Jinping is also expected to attend.

“The U.S.-China trade war, overall, has dominated the entire global economy. It has become such a focus that, while Trump is planning to attend the East Asia Summit, the world is primarily focused on whether he will meet directly with Xi during his trip—which seems increasingly likely,” Kurlantzick writes.

Collection: organizations - Tags: asean, organizations, asia - Source: instagram.com