Updated May 20, 2024
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Overview
matters. The East Asia Summit (EAS), created in 2005, is
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is
an evolving, leaders-level forum with a varied agenda, in
Southeast Asia’s primary multilateral organization, a 10-
which the United States gained membership in 2010. The
member grouping of nations with a combined population of
EAS includes all 10 ASEAN members, plus Australia,
660 million and a combined annual gross domestic product
China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea,
(GDP) of around $3.2 trillion in 2022. Established in 1967,
and the United States. The ASEAN Defense Ministers
it has grown into one of the world’s largest regional fora,
Meeting-Plus (ADMM+), established in 2010, regularly
representing a strategically important region straddling
brings senior defense officials from EAS members together
some of the world’s busiest sea lanes, including in the
and hosts multilateral military exchanges.
Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. Taken
collectively, ASEAN ranks as the world’s fifth-largest
In recent years, as cooperation through non-ASEAN
economy and the United States’ fourth-largest export
regional groupings such as the Quadrilateral Security
market.
Dialogue, the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) security
grouping, and other “mini-lateral” groupings involving
ASEAN’s members are Brunei, Burma (Myanmar),
regional nations—including some ASEAN members—has
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines,
deepened, some Southeast Asian observers have expressed
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. (Timor-Leste, the
concern about ASEAN’s place in U.S. strategy.
region’s newest nation, has observer status.) Members
rotate as chair: Laos is ASEAN’s chair for 2024 and
Malaysia is to assume the chair in 2025. 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.
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.

Some observers argue that this style constrains ASEAN
Source: Graphic created by CRS.
from acting strongly and cohesively on important issues.
Others argue that these principles—dubbed the “ASEAN
U.S.-ASEAN Relations
Way”—promote regional stability and ensure that the
The United States has long had strong bilateral relations
group’s members continue to discuss issues where their
with individual Southeast Asian nations, including treaty
interests sometimes diverge. The principle has been tested
alliances with the Philippines and Thailand and a close
as ASEAN seeks to address the crisis that has followed the
Burmese military’s 2021
security partnership with Singapore. Many U.S.
coup d’état, which has led to a
policymakers see engagement with ASEAN as
political and humanitarian crisis in one of the group’s
complementing bilateral relationships and strengthening the
members.
region’s collective diplomatic weight as other regional
ASEAN and Asian Regional Architecture players gain in economic and military power. The United
States initially supported ASEAN as a means to promote
Asia has no dominant EU-style multilateral body, and many
regional dialogue and as a bulwark against Communism,
observers see the region’s economic and security
becoming an ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 1977. In 2009,
institutions as underdeveloped. ASEAN convenes and
the United States acceded to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity
administratively supports a number of regional fora that
and Cooperation and committed to an annual U.S.-ASEAN
include other governments (known as “dialogue partners”),
Meeting. In 2012, the United States and ASEAN agreed to
including the United States. ASEAN Member governments
deeply value what they call “ASEAN Centrality” in the
raise the level of the U.S.-ASEAN meeting to a Leaders
Meeting and elevated the relationship in November 2015 to
evolving regional architecture.
a U.S.-ASEAN Strategic Partnership and in November
2022 to a U.S.-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic
The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), first convened in
Partnership.
1994 with 26 Asian and Pacific states plus the EU, was
formed to facilitate dialogue on political and security
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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Successive U.S. Administrations have identified deep U.S.
2002, ASEAN and China agreed to a nonbinding
interests in Southeast Asia, including fostering democracy
Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South
and human rights; encouraging liberal trade and investment
China Sea, in which they agreed to “resolve their territorial
regimes; addressing maritime security and tensions in the
and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without
South China Sea; promoting environmental protection;
resorting to the threat or use of force,” to “exercise self-
countering piracy and terrorism; combatting human
restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate
trafficking and trafficking in narcotics and wildlife; and
or escalate disputes,” and to work toward the creation of a
addressing public health risks. The Biden Administration
formal Code of Conduct to govern activities in the region.
faces a range of challenges in engaging with ASEAN,
However, the group’s members have deep disagreements
including ASEAN’s limited ability to address the coup in
over how to approach the negotiations with China. Some
Burma, and regional concerns about the impact of growing
ASEAN members, particularly Cambodia and Laos, have
Sino-U.S. tensions. Many Southeast Asian officials have
been hesitant to join a unified ASEAN response. The
welcomed U.S. efforts to push back against problematic
United States has generally supported ASEAN members’
Chinese actions, but many are also concerned that efforts to
efforts to push back against Chinese assertions.
“contain” China could be counter-productive.
ASEAN’s Economic Integration
The United States has pursued a series of initiatives with
ASEAN members play a major role in regional supply
ASEAN. It created U.S.-ASEAN Connect in 2016 to
chains, and U.S. companies are significant investors in
coordinate U.S. public- and private-sector economic
several ASEAN economies. ASEAN has an internal free
initiatives through the U.S. Mission to ASEAN and the U.S.
trade agreement (the ASEAN FTA, or AFTA.) In 2015, the
Embassies in Bangkok and Singapore. Other initiatives
group launched an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)
include an expanded Fulbright Exchange of ASEAN-U.S.
to promote trade liberalization and regulatory
Scholars and the Young Southeast Asian Leaders
harmonization among members, with the goal of creating a
Initiative (YSEALI), which offers scholarships and
single ASEAN market and integrated manufacturing base.
opportunities for young leaders. The United States provides
ASEAN has trade agreements with several regional
aid for ASEAN’s formation of a Single Customs Window
partners, including Australia, China, India, Japan, New
to facilitate economic integration and trade. The United
Zealand, and South Korea. In 2019, ASEAN and five of
States and ASEAN launched a Smart Cities Partnership
those nations concluded a trade agreement known as the
in 2018 to promote U.S. investment in the region’s digital
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
infrastructure.
(RCEP) (India withdrew). Four ASEAN nations—Brunei,
Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam—are members of the
Historically, the United States has provided a range of
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-
assistance to ASEAN and its members. According to a 2023
Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). ASEAN members seek to
State Department fact sheet, between 2002 and 2021, the
promote infrastructure development, particularly in building
United States provided over $12.1 billion in economic,
greater regional “connectivity” through investment in
health, and security assistance and over $1.5 billion in
transport and information technology. This has led to
humanitarian assistance to Southeast Asian nations. The
substantial demand for foreign investment, including in
Biden Administration has announced a range of new
some cases through China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
assistance packages to the region, including a $102 million
package of new funding for public health, climate, and
Human Rights and the Burma Crisis
economic initiatives announced in 2021 and $150 million in
The United States—and some of ASEAN’s own
other new initiatives unveiled in 2022, including
members—have long voiced concerns about human rights
investments in infrastructure, health security, education and
conditions in several ASEAN member states. Some
$60 million to expand maritime cooperation programs. U.S.
ASEAN members are effectively one-party states, and
trade and economic arrangements with ASEAN, however,
coups in Burma (2021) and Thailand (2006 and 2014)
are limited by the vast diversity of the group’s economies.
deposed democratically elected governments. ASEAN’s
approach to human rights violations among its members has
ASEAN, China, and the South China Sea become a touchstone issue with the crisis in Burma. In
China is the largest trade partner and a major source of
2021, ASEAN issued a five-point plan for resolving the
investment for many Southeast Asian nations. However,
crisis, but successive ASEAN Envoys to Burma have had
concerns about China’s growing power in the region,
little success in defusing the crisis, and Burmese junta
including worries that China may use its economic leverage
leader Min Aung Hlaing was not invited to any of
to achieve political goals and anger over China’s efforts to
ASEAN’s Leaders Meetings since 2021. Other human
exert control over much of the South China Sea, have
rights issues in ASEAN include the Cambodian
strained relations among some ASEAN members. Most
government’s banning of the political opposition and
ASEAN members rely on the U.S. security presence and
continued moves by Thailand to protect military authority
strong trade and investment ties with the United States to
through restrictions on civil rights. The U.S. mission to
ensure stability and enhance their economic development.
ASEAN has sought to foster networks among the region’s
civil society groups to build capacity among
Four members—Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and
nongovernmental actors.
Vietnam—have maritime territorial disputes with China (as
well as with each other), and others have interests in the
Ben Dolven, Specialist in Asian Affairs
South China Sea’s natural resources and shipping lanes. In
IF10348
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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)


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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10348 · VERSION 20 · UPDATED

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