A three-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will take place in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday through Tuesday, along with numerous other meetings taking place on the sidelines.
The ASEAN will hold its 47th summit on September.
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What information is necessary here:
Who is attending the summit and what is ASEAN?
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore are the 10 members of ASEAN. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, they collectively have a population of 678 million people and a $3.9 trillion gross domestic product.
East Timor will be inducted as ASEAN’s 11th member this year. 1. 4 million people live in the nation, which was separated from Indonesia in 2002.
Leaders from every member nation will be gathered for the summit, with the exception of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the acting president of Myanmar.
The East Asia Summit, a gathering of the leaders of ASEAN countries, including the US, China, India, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, takes place each year.
Attendees this year include US President Donald Trump, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Prime Minister of Australia, Sanae Takaichi, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
Moscow will be represented by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, and Narendra Modi, Indian Prime Minister, will virtually participate.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will also be present in Kuala Lumpur, along with the leaders of ASEAN and the East Asia Summit nations.
According to Bernama, Malaysia’s state news agency, the heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the International Labour Organization, and the International Federation of Association Football, or FIFA, will also be present at some sessions.
What activities will take place at the summit?
In Kuala Lumpur, ASEAN will hold separate conclaves with leaders of important powers in addition to the ASEAN summit and the East Asia summit.
A pact to end a deadly border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand will also be signed on Sunday. According to Bernama, Trump and Anwar Ibrahim will preside over the ceremony.
In July, a long-running border conflict rekindled with hundreds of fatalities and displacement along the way. With the assistance of Malaysia, China, and the US, a five-day ceasefire was established.
Some critics have questioned whether the deal will serve as more of a photo-op for Trump than a lasting resolution despite the event’s high profile. According to Mu Sochua, a former Khmer Movement for Democracy leader and leader of the opposition, ceasefire violations have been ongoing since July, while the original border demarcation issue has also not been resolved.
She claimed that Trump’s threat of tariffs helped bring Thailand and Cambodia to the table of negotiations, which turned out to be controversial and effective in the long run. Both critics claim that the practice of trading peace for trade benefits instead of addressing local needs, according to her.
What topics will be covered at the summit?  ,
The ASEAN summit will address pressing issues like US tariffs and access to rare earth minerals, which are essential to high-tech manufacturing and are dominated by China.
In an effort to lower the US trade deficit, Trump issued his “Liberation Day Tariffs” in April against the majority of US trading partners. Most ASEAN nations’ tariffs range between 10 and 20%, while Brunei’s tariff rate is 25%. Laos and Myanmar have 40% respectively of the tariffs.
China has tightened export restrictions on rare earths in response to Trump’s tariffs, which has been felt all over the world.
Most attendees will be vying for a chance to speak with Trump about tariffs, according to Marco Foster, ASEAN director at Dezan Shira &, Associates. He claimed that “almost everyone will be trying to talk to him or trying to get into the room with him or his people to talk about their deal.” Everyone wants to meet with Trump on the sidelines.
Additionally, attendees are expected to discuss contentious topics like Myanmar’s civil war and the expansion of Southeast Asian scams, which have generated tens of billions of dollars for criminal networks.
Myanmar is skipping the summit, but why?  ,
Because Myanmar has been at war with its own people since 2021, it will not be able to attend the ASEAN summit. Myanmar will not succeed Malaysia as ASEAN chair in the coming year. Instead, Philippines will be in charge of the role.
A special ASEAN envoy to assist with the conflict’s mediation was established in a five-point consensus issued in 2021. Critics claim that it has had little to do with the crisis four years later.
The summit’s agenda, according to Charles Santiago, co-chairman of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, is expected to include discussions of Myanmar and the civil war’s aftermath.
He claimed that “Myanmar has become a destabilizing factor in the other parts of Southeast Asia, both]in terms of] security and social cohesion.” He continued, adding that the civil war has caused a refugee crisis while facilitating the spread of drug and weapon flow.
Santiago, however, asserted that the ASEAN summit did not offer much. Nothing significant will happen in terms of policy, he said, but “this will be a major photo opportunity for everyone.”
What restrictions does ASEAN have?
ASEAN’s lack of an enforcement mechanism has occasionally drawn criticism from some members for its inability to impose its decisions. This sets it apart from other regional blocs like the European Union, whose members are required to uphold EU rules and regulations.
It is a criticism that has recently been voiced regarding issues like the Cambodian-Thai border conflict and Myanmar.
Foster claimed that this feature is a unique representation of ASEAN history. Following a significant decolonization wave in the world, the organization was established in 1967. According to him, its structure reflects the customs of the time.
Source: Aljazeera
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