Updated June 10, 2020
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Overview
includes all 10 ASEAN members, plus Australia, China,
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is
India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and the
Southeast Asia’s primary multilateral organization, a 10-
United States. The ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-
member grouping of nations with a combined population of
Plus (ADMM+) was established in 2010, bringing senior
650 million and a combined annual gross domestic product
defense officials from EAS members together regularly and
(GDP) of around $2.8 trillion in 2019. Established in 1967,
hosting multilateral military exchanges.
it has grown into one of the world’s largest regional fora,
representing a strategically important region with some of
the world’s busiest sea lanes, including the Straits of
Malacca and the South China Sea. Taken collectively,
ASEAN would rank as the world’s fifth-largest economy
and the United States’ fourth-largest export market.
ASEAN’s members are Brunei, Burma (Myanmar),
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Members rotate as
chair: Vietnam is ASEAN’s chair for 2020 and Brunei is to
assume the chair in 2021. ASEAN engages in a wide range
of diplomatic, economic and security discussions through
hundreds of annual meetings and through a secretariat

based in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2008, the United States
Source: Graphic created by CRS.
became the first non-ASEAN nation to appoint a
representative to ASEAN, and in 2011 opened a U.S.
U.S.-ASEAN Relations
mission to ASEAN in Jakarta with a resident Ambassador.
The United States has long had strong bilateral relations
Several other nations have followed suit.
with individual Southeast Asian nations, including treaty
alliances with the Philippines and Thailand and a close
ASEAN is a diverse and informal organization. Two of its
security partnership with Singapore. Some U.S. officials
core operating principles are consensual decisionmaking
have spoken of a need to strengthen ties with the region’s
and noninterference in the internal affairs of its members.
multilateral institutions as well. The United States initially
Some observers argue that this style constrains ASEAN
supported ASEAN as a means to promote regional dialogue
from acting strongly and cohesively on important issues.
and as a bulwark against Communism in Asia, becoming an
Others argue that these principles—dubbed the “ASEAN
Way”—
ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 1977. In 2009, the United
promote regional stability and ensure that the
States acceded to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and
group’s diverse members continue to discuss issues where
Cooperation and committed to an annual U.S.-ASEAN
their interests sometimes diverge. ASEAN includes nations
Meeting. In 2012, it raised the level of the U.S.-ASEAN
across the economic development spectrum, and its political
meeting to a Leaders Meeting, and in November 2015, it
systems include democracies, semi-authoritarian states, and
announced the creation of a U.S.-ASEAN Strategic
repressive military regimes.
Partnership.
ASEAN and Asian Regional Architecture Successive U.S. Administrations have identified deep U.S.
Asia has no dominant EU-style multilateral body, and many
see the region’s economic and security
interests in Southeast Asia, including fostering democracy
institutions as
and human rights, encouraging liberal trade and investment
underdeveloped. ASEAN convenes and administratively
regimes, addressing maritime security and tensions in the
supports a number of regional fora that include other
South China Sea, promoting environmental protection,
governments (known as “dialogue partners”), including the
countering piracy and terrorism, and combatting human
United States. ASEAN Member governments deeply value
what they call “ASEAN Centrality” in the evolving regional
trafficking and trafficking in narcotics and wildlife. Some
of ASEAN’s members were among the first countries
architecture.
outside China to identify COVID-19 cases in early 2020.
The region’s experiences with previous trans-national
The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), established in 1994
public health crises, including avian influenza and the 2003
with 26 Asian and Pacific states plus the EU, was formed to
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic,
facilitate dialogue on political and security matters. The
helped some ASEAN members address the 2020 outbreak.
East Asia Summit (EAS), created in 2005, is an evolving
leaders-level forum with a varied agenda, in which the
The Trump Administration has cast its regional strategy as
United States gained membership in 2010. The EAS
the promotion of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, a
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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
formulation that raises some concern for some ASEAN
China. Four members—Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines,
members, who see the group itself as a central hub for
and Vietnam—have maritime territorial disputes with China
regional diplomacy. Administration officials have sought to
(as well as with each other). Other ASEAN members,
reassure ASEAN of its importance. “ASEAN is literally at
particularly Cambodia and Laos, have been hesitant to join
the center of the Indo-Pacific,” Secretary of State Mike
a unified ASEAN response to Chinese assertions.
Pompeo said in July 2018, “and it plays a central role in the
Indo-Pacific vision that America is presenting.” However,
ASEAN’s Economic Integration
in a region where “showing up” is considered important,
ASEAN members play a major role in regional supply
many Southeast Asians are concerned that President Trump
chains, and U.S. companies are significant investors in
has not attended the past two U.S.-ASEAN summits.
several of the ASEAN economies. ASEAN has an internal
free trade agreement (the ASEAN FTA, or AFTA.) In
The Obama Administration launched a series of initiatives
December 2015, the group launched an ASEAN Economic
with ASEAN and other regional institutions that have
Community (AEC) to promote further trade liberalization
continued. U.S.-ASEAN Connect was created in 2016 to
measures and regulatory harmonization among ASEAN’s
coordinate U.S. public- and private-sector economic
members, with the goal of creating a single ASEAN market
initiatives through the U.S. Mission to ASEAN and the U.S.
and integrated manufacturing base.
Embassies in Bangkok and Singapore. Other initiatives
include an expanded Fulbright Exchange of ASEAN-U.S.
ASEAN members seek to promote infrastructure
Scholars, aid for ASEAN’s formation of a Single Customs
development in the region, particularly in building greater
Window to facilitate easier trade of goods and services, and
regional “connectivity” through investment in transport and
the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative
IT. This has led to substantial demand for foreign
(YSEALI), which offers scholarships and opportunities for
investment, including in some cases through China’s Belt
young leaders. In November, 2018, Vice President Pence
and Road Initiative (BRI). ASEAN’s individual members
announced a U.S.-ASEAN Smart Cities Partnership, to
have differing approaches to the BRI. Cambodia and Laos,
promote U.S. investment in the region’s digital
for example, have embraced the BRI as a means of
infrastructure. The United States has joined Australia and
developing much needed infrastructure. Malaysia and
Japan to form the “Blue Dot Network” to promote
Vietnam, by contrast, have been highly vocal about
sustainable and non-exploitive infrastructure projects,
concerns surrounding the terms of BRI investments.
which may facilitate investments in Southeast Asia.
ASEAN has trade agreements with several Asian partners,
U.S. trade and economic arrangements with ASEAN are
including Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and
limited by the vast diversity of the group’s economies.
South Korea. In 2019, ASEAN and five of those nations
According to the World Bank, per capita GDP among
(India withdrew), concluded a regional trade agreement
ASEAN members, based on purchasing power parity,
known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic
ranges from $101,532 in Singapore to $4,361 in Cambodia.
Partnership (RCEP). Four ASEAN nations—Brunei,
Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam—are members of the
ASEAN, China, and the South China Sea Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-
With U.S.-China tensions and uncertainty about U.S.
Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
commitment to the region growing sharply under the Trump
Administration, many Southeast Asian nations are re-
ASEAN and Human Rights
examining their relations with both China and the United
Human rights conditions in several ASEAN member states
States. China is the largest trade partner and a major source
have long been a concern for the United States, and
of investment for many Southeast Asian nations. However,
sometimes for the group’s own members. While some
concerns that China may use its economic leverage to
members, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, are
achieve political goals, combined with anger over China’s
democratic, others, including Laos and Vietnam, are
territorial assertions in the South China Sea, have strained
effectively one-party states. Human rights advocates are
relations with some ASEAN members. Meanwhile, most
deeply concerned about Burma’s treatment of its Rohingya
ASEAN members rely on the U.S. security presence and
and other ethnic minorities, the Cambodian government’s
strong trade and investment ties with the United States to
intimidation of its political opposition, thousands of extra-
ensure stability and enhance their economic development.
judicial killings under the Philippines’ anti-drug program,
and continued moves by Thailand to protect military
ASEAN nations are seeking to lower regional tensions by
authority. ASEAN’s 2007 Charter attempted to bring some
concluding a Code of Conduct for parties in the South
amount of pressure to bear upon member states on human
China Sea. In 2002, ASEAN and China agreed to a
rights, but progress has been limited. The charter created a
nonbinding Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the
formal Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights,
South China Sea, in which they agreed to “resolve their
but the body has been criticized by some human rights
territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means,
organizations as largely symbolic. The U.S. mission to
without resorting to the threat or use of force,” to “exercise
ASEAN has sought to foster networks among the region’s
self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would
civil society groups so as to build capacity among non-
complicate or escalate disputes,” and to work toward the
governmental actors in Southeast Asia.
creation of a formal Code of Conduct to govern activities in
the region. However, the group’s members have deep
Ben Dolven, Specialist in Asian Affairs
disagreements over how to approach the negotiations with
IF10348
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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)


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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10348 · VERSION 9 · UPDATED

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