Updated March 4, 2022
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Overview
which the United States gained membership in 2010. The
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is
EAS includes all 10 ASEAN members, plus Australia,
Southeast Asia’s primary multilateral organization, a 10-
China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea,
member grouping of nations with a combined population of
and the United States. The ASEAN Defense Ministers
660 million and a combined annual gross domestic product
Meeting-Plus (ADMM+), established in 2010, brings
(GDP) of around $3.1 trillion in 2021. Established in 1967,
senior defense officials from EAS members together
it has grown into one of the world’s largest regional fora,
regularly and hosts multilateral military exchanges.
representing a strategically important region straddling
some of the world’s busiest sea lanes, including the Straits
In recent years, as cooperation through non-ASEAN
of Malacca and the South China Sea. Taken collectively,
regional groupings such as the Quadrilateral Security
ASEAN would rank as the world’s fifth-largest economy
Dialogue and the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) security
and the United States’ fourth-largest export market.
grouping has deepened, some Southeast Asian observers
have expressed concern about ASEAN’s place in U.S.
ASEAN’s members are Brunei, Burma (Myanmar),
strategy. The Biden Administration casts its March 2022
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines,
summit with ASEAN leaders as a tangible demonstration of
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Members rotate as
U.S. commitment to the organization.
chair: Cambodia is ASEAN’s chair for 2022 and Indonesia
is to assume the chair in 2023. 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 became the first non-ASEAN nation to appoint a
representative to ASEAN, and in 2011 it opened a U.S.
mission to ASEAN in Jakarta with a resident Ambassador.
Several other nations have followed suit. President Biden
plans a formal meeting with ASEAN’s leaders March 28-29
in Washington, DC.
ASEAN is a diverse and informal organization. Two of its
core operating principles are consensual decisionmaking

and noninterference in the internal affairs of its members.
Source: Graphic created by CRS.
Some observers argue that this style constrains ASEAN
from acting strongly and cohesively on important issues.
U.S.-ASEAN Relations
Others argue that these principles—dubbed the “ASEAN
Way”—
The United States has long had strong bilateral relations
promote regional stability and ensure that the
with individual Southeast Asian nations, including treaty
group’s members continue to discuss issues where their
alliances with the Philippines and Thailand and a close
interests sometimes diverge. The principle has been tested
security partnership with Singapore. Many U.S.
as ASEAN seeks to address the crisis that has followed the
Burmese military’s 2021
policymakers see engagement with ASEAN as
coup d’etat.
complementing bilateral relationships and strengthening the
ASEAN and Asian Regional Architecture region’s collective diplomatic weight as other regional
players gain in economic and military power. The United
Asia has no dominant EU-style multilateral body, and many
States initially supported ASEAN as a means to promote
observers see the region’s economic and security
regional dialogue and as a bulwark against Communism,
institutions as underdeveloped. ASEAN convenes and
becoming an ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 1977. In 2009,
administratively supports a number of regional fora that
the United States acceded to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity
include other governments (known as “dialogue partners”),
and Cooperation and committed to an annual U.S.-ASEAN
including the United States. ASEAN Member governments
deeply value what they call “ASEAN Centrality” i
Meeting. In 2012, the United States and ASEAN agreed to
n the
raise the level of the U.S.-ASEAN meeting to a Leaders
evolving regional architecture.
Meeting, and in November 2015 announced a U.S.-ASEAN
Strategic Partnership.
The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), first convened in
1994 with 26 Asian and Pacific states plus the EU, was
Successive U.S. Administrations have identified deep U.S.
formed to facilitate dialogue on political and security
interests in Southeast Asia, including fostering democracy
matters. The East Asia Summit (EAS), created in 2005, is
and human rights, encouraging liberal trade and investment
an evolving leaders-level forum with a varied agenda, in
regimes, addressing maritime security and tensions in the
https://crsreports.congress.gov

---

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
South China Sea, promoting environmental protection,
been hesitant to join a unified ASEAN response. The
countering piracy and terrorism, combatting human
United States has generally supported ASEAN members’
trafficking and trafficking in narcotics and wildlife, and
efforts to push back against Chinese assertions.
addressing public health risks including the Coronavirus
Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which hit Southeast Asia
ASEAN’s Economic Integration
particularly hard. The Biden Administration faces a range
ASEAN members play a major role in regional supply
of challenges in its engagement with ASEAN and Southeast
chains, and U.S. companies are significant investors in
Asia, including ASEAN’s efforts to address the coup in
several ASEAN economies. ASEAN has an internal free
Burma, and regional concerns about the impact of growing
trade agreement (the ASEAN FTA, or AFTA.) In 2015, the
Sino-U.S. tensions. Many Southeast Asian officials have
group launched an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)
welcomed U.S. efforts to push back against Chinese
to promote trade liberalization and regulatory
actions, but many in the region are also concerned that any
harmonization among members, with the goal of creating a
effort to “contain” China could be counter-productive.
single ASEAN market and integrated manufacturing base.
The United States has pursued a series of initiatives with
ASEAN members seek to promote infrastructure
ASEAN. U.S.-ASEAN Connect was created in 2016 to
development in the region, particularly in building greater
coordinate U.S. public- and private-sector economic
regional “connectivity” through investment in transport and
initiatives through the U.S. Mission to ASEAN and the U.S.
Information Technology. This has led to substantial demand
Embassies in Bangkok and Singapore. Other initiatives
for foreign investment, including in some cases through
include an expanded Fulbright Exchange of ASEAN-U.S.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). ASEAN members
Scholars and the Young Southeast Asian Leaders
have differing approaches to the BRI. Cambodia and Laos,
Initiative (YSEALI), which offers scholarships and
for example, have embraced the BRI as a means of
opportunities for young leaders. The United States provides
developing much needed infrastructure. Vietnam, by
aid for ASEAN’s formation of a Single Customs Window
contrast, has been highly vocal about concerns surrounding
to facilitate trade. A U.S.-ASEAN Smart Cities
the terms of BRI investments.
Partnership was launched in 2018 to promote U.S.
investment in the region’s digital infrastructure. In 2021,
ASEAN has trade agreements with several regional
the Biden Administration announced $102 million in new
partners, including Australia, China, India, Japan, New
funding for public health, climate, and economic initiatives.
Zealand, and South Korea. In 2019, ASEAN and five of
those nations concluded a trade agreement known as the
The Administration has also announced plans for an Indo-
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Pacific Economic Framework, some of whose initiatives
(RCEP) (India withdrew). Four ASEAN nations—Brunei,
may be aimed at ASEAN and its members. However, U.S.
Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam—are members of the
trade and economic arrangements with ASEAN itself are
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-
limited by the vast diversity of the group’s economies.
Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
ASEAN, China, and the South China Sea Human Rights and the Burma Crisis
China is the largest trade partner and a major source of
The United States—and some of ASEAN’s own
investment for many Southeast Asian nations. However,
members—have long voiced concerns about human rights
concerns about China’s growing power in the region,
conditions in several ASEAN member states. Some
including worries that China may use its economic leverage
ASEAN members are effectively one-party states, and
to achieve political goals and anger over China’s efforts to
coups in Burma (2021) and Thailand (2006 and 2014)
exert control over much of the South China Sea, have
deposed democratically elected governments. ASEAN’s
strained relations with some ASEAN members. Most
approach to human rights violations among its members has
ASEAN members rely on the U.S. security presence and
become a touchstone issue with the crisis in Burma, in
strong trade and investment ties with the United States to
which the military has killed nearly 1,600 people as of
ensure stability and enhance their economic development.
March 3, 2022. In April, 2021, ASEAN issued a five-point
plan for resolving the crisis, but successive ASEAN Envoys
Four members—Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and
to Burma have had little success in lessening violence and
Vietnam—have maritime territorial disputes with China (as
promoting dialogue.
well as with each other), and others have interests in the
South China Sea’s natural resources and shipping lanes. In
Other human rights issues in ASEAN include the
2002, ASEAN and China agreed to a nonbinding
Cambodian government’s banning of the political
Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South
opposition, thousands of extra-judicial killings under the
China Sea, in which they agreed to “resolve their territorial
Philippines’ anti-drug program, and continued moves by
and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without
Thailand to protect military authority through restrictions
resorting to the threat or use of force,” to “exercise self-
on civil rights. The U.S. mission to ASEAN has sought to
restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate
foster networks among the region’s civil society groups to
or escalate disputes,” and to work toward the creation of a
build capacity among non-governmental actors.
formal Code of Conduct to govern activities in the region.
However, the group’s members have deep disagreements
Ben Dolven, Specialist in Asian Affairs
over how to approach the negotiations with China. Some
ASEAN members, particularly Cambodia and Laos, have
IF10348
https://crsreports.congress.gov

---

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)


Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be
reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include
copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you
wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10348 · VERSION 12 · UPDATED

---