ASEAN On Life Support

OpenLife Nigeria has reliably gathered that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, “has lost its much-touted centrality and is frankly on life support as an autonomous multilateral platform.

These are the recent views of Michael Vatikiotis.

The respected public affairs analyst noted that the plans of the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden to skip the summit of the group’s leaders that begins on Sept. 5, is a pointer to how disunited the group has become.

According to him, Biden’s plan to boycott the summit is because the bloc is deeply divided due to clashing interests and concerns about China, democracy, security and other issues.

The author of “Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia” argues that ASEAN must find ways to revive effective multilateral cooperation.

Otherwise, he warns, there is little chance that the bloc can act to preserve peace in the region, its fundamental mission.

“There is an urgent need for more contact and understanding in a region vastly more challenged than it was even five years ago,” he writes.