ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional grouping of all 11 states in Southeast Asia, which aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its members. Together, its member states represent a population of more than 680 million people and a land area of over 4.5 million km² (1.7 million sq mi). The bloc generated a purchasing power parity (PPP) gross domestic product (GDP) of around US$13.152 trillion in 2025, constituting approximately 6.5% of global GDP (PPP). ASEAN member states include some of the fastest growing economies in the world, and the institution plays an integral role in East Asian regionalism.

The primary objectives of ASEAN are "to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region", and "to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter." In recent years, the bloc has broadened its objectives beyond economic and social spheres. The current Secretary-General is Kao Kim Hourn, while the chairmanship for this year is held by the Philippines, led by President Bongbong Marcos. The theme for 2026 is "Navigating Our Future, Together" prioritizing peace and security, prosperity, and people empowerment.

ASEAN engages with other international entities in the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world. It is a major partner of the EUTooltip European Union, UNTooltip United Nations, SCOTooltip Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, PATooltip Pacific Alliance, GCCTooltip Gulf Cooperation Council, Mercosur, CELACTooltip Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and ECOTooltip Economic Cooperation Organization. It also hosts diplomatic missions throughout the world, maintaining a global network of relationships that is widely regarded as the central forum for cooperation in the region. Its success has become the driving force of some of the largest trade blocs in history, including APECTooltip Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and RCEPTooltip Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

History

Background

Besides their close geographic proximity, political scholars consider Southeast Asian nations "cultural crossroads" between East Asia and South Asia, located at critical junctions of the South China Sea as well as the Indian Ocean, and as a result received a great deal of Islamic and Persian influence prior to the European colonial ages.

Since around 100 BCE, the Southeast Asian archipelago occupied a central position at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea trading routes, which stimulated the economy and the influx of ideas. This included the introduction of abugida scripts to Southeast Asia as well as the Chinese script to Vietnam. Besides various indigenous scripts, various abugida Brahmic scripts were widespread in both continental and insular Southeast Asia. Historically, scripts such as Pallava, Kawi (from ancient Sanskrit script) and Rencong or Surat Ulu were used to write Old Malay, until they were replaced by Jawi during Islamic missionary missions in the Malay Archipelago.

European colonialism influenced most ASEAN countries, including French Indochina (present-day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), British Burma, Malaya and Borneo (present-day Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore, and Brunei), Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia), Spanish East Indies (present-day Philippines and various other colonies), and Portuguese Timor (present-day Timor-Leste), with only Thailand (then Siam) not formed from a prior European colony. Siam served as the buffer state, sandwiched between British Burma and French Indochina, but its kings had to contend with unequal treaties as well as British and French political interference and territorial losses after the Franco-Siamese conflict of 1893 and the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909. Under European colonisation, Southeast Asian nations were introduced to European religions and technologies, as well as the Latin alphabet.

The Empire of Japan, in the vein of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere concept, sought to unite and create a pan-Asian identity against Western colonial occupation, but Japan's alliance with the Axis powers in World War II soured relations between many colonies of Europe and the United States. Defeat of Imperial Japan eventuated in decolonisation movements throughout Southeast Asia, resulting in the independent ASEAN states seen today.

Formation

The predecessor of ASEAN was the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA), formed on 31 July 1961 and consisting of Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaya. ASEAN itself was created on 8 August 1967, when the foreign ministers of five countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand - signed the ASEAN Declaration at Saranrom Palace in Bangkok, negotiated in Lam Thaen Guest House. According to the Declaration, ASEAN aims to accelerate economic, social, and cultural development in the region, as well as promoting regional peace, to collaborate on matters of shared interest, and to promote Southeast Asian studies and maintain close cooperation with existing international organisations.

The creation of ASEAN was initially motivated by the desire to contain communism, which took a foothold in mainland Asia after World War II, with the formation of communist governments in North Korea, China, and Vietnam, accompanied by the so-called communist "emergency" in British Malaya, and unrest in the recently decolonised Philippines.

These events also encouraged the earlier formation of the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), led by the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, with several Southeast Asian partners in 1954 as an extension of "containment" policy, seeking to create an Eastern version of NATO. However, the local member states of ASEAN group achieved greater cohesion in the mid-1970s following a change in the balance of power after the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975 and the decline of SEATO.

ASEAN's first summit meeting, held in Bali, Indonesia, in 1976, resulted in an agreement on several industrial projects and the signing of a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, and a Declaration of Concord. The end of the Cold War allowed ASEAN countries to exercise greater political independence in the region, and in the 1990s, ASEAN emerged as a leading voice on regional trade and security issues.

On 15 December 1995, the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty was signed to turn Southeast Asia into a nuclear-weapon-free zone. The treaty took effect on 28 March 1997 after all but one of the member states had ratified it. It became fully effective on 21 June 2001 after the Philippines ratified it, effectively banning all nuclear weapons in the region.

Expansion

On 7 January 1984, Brunei became ASEAN's sixth member and on 28 July 1995, following the end of the Cold War, Vietnam joined as the seventh member. Laos and Myanmar (formerly Burma) joined two years later on 23 July 1997. Cambodia was to join at the same time as Laos and Myanmar, but a Cambodian coup in 1997 and other internal instability delayed its entry. It then joined on 30 April 1999 following the stabilisation of its government. Timor-Leste joined ASEAN on 26 October 2025 during the 47th ASEAN Summit as its 11th member, completing a two-decade accession process.

In 2006, ASEAN was given observer status at the United Nations General Assembly. In response, the organisation awarded the status of "dialogue partner" to the UN. The UK and ASEAN have also pursued a dialogue partnership.

The ASEAN Charter

On 15 December 2008, the member states met in Jakarta to launch the charter signed in November 2007, to move closer to "an EU-style community". The charter formally established ASEAN as a legal entity, aiming to create a single trade bloc for a region encompassing 500 million people. Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stated: "This is a momentous development when ASEAN is consolidating, integrating, and transforming itself into a community. It is achieved while ASEAN seeks a more vigorous role in Asian and global affairs at a time when the international system is experiencing a seismic shift". Referring to climate change and economic upheaval, he concluded: "Southeast Asia is no longer the bitterly divided, war-torn region it was in the 1960s and 1970s".

The 2008 financial crisis was seen as a threat to the charter's goals, and also set forth the idea of a proposed human rights body to be discussed at a future summit in February 2009. This proposition caused controversy, although the body would not have the power to impose sanctions or punish countries which violated citizens' rights and would, therefore, be limited in effectiveness. The body was established later in 2009 as the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).