Asean's main challenge is to stay united in a troubled world: Vivian

Region should remain oasis of peace, avoid falling into problems occurring in other areas

- Tan Hui Yee

With wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza, and the geopolitical contest between Beijing and Washington raising temperatures, Asean’s main challenge is “not to fall into the strategic traps that have occurred in other parts of the world” and to keep South-east Asia an oasis of peace, said Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on July 27.

“The key strategic challenge for Asean in such an unsettled world: Remain united, remain coherent, focus on economics and not fall into the problems, the very severe, fundamental problems which have beset Europe and the Middle East. Too early to say that we’re completely out of danger,” he told reporters in Vientiane after the closing of the Asean foreign ministers’ meetings there.

The talks in Laos involved top diplomats from Asean’s dialogue partners, including the United States, China, Russia and the European Union, which brought discussion of these distant wars to the region’s doorstep. The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Josep Borrell, for one, appealed to his Asean counterparts for understanding on July 26 about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying “the Ukrainian struggle is existential for us”.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza since the Oct 7, 2023, terrorist attacks by Palestinian group Hamas also received close attention from Asean’s foreign ministers.