The Bloc's 'Centrality' Enables Cooperation across the Indo Pacific

Over the past two decades, ASEAN has become an influential regional cooperation organization. In addition to recent success in the process of intra-bloc integration, ASEAN has driven efforts to establish an extensive system of cooperation mechanisms. These allow the comparably small Southeast Asian nations to align their interests, to build lasting relationships with external partners, and to shape an inclusive regional architecture. Several countries have shown interest in joining ASEAN-led mechanisms and voiced their support for the organization’s crucial role in enabling cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. The article will clarify the process of building ASEAN and consolidating its centrality. It will also analyse how major geopolitical powers relate to this process.

Prof. Vo Xuan Vinh is Deputy Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. This article is based on his paper “ASEAN in the Strategies of Major Countries”. It was written as a contribution to the international conference “ASEAN in a Changing World” hosted by the Rosa-Luxemburg- Stiftung Hanoi Office and the Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation in November 2024.