By Voon Miaw Ping
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 (Bernama) -- Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN presents a pivotal opportunity to strengthen the regional bloc’s relevance and centrality in an increasingly multipolar and competitive world.
Vietnam’s Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies director-general Trinh Minh Manh said Malaysia’s leadership is not only crucial for sustaining regional stability and prosperity but also for ensuring ASEAN’s continued significance on the global stage.
“We see a lot of things happening in the region and the world, especially escalating major power competition and even confrontation. We see competing multilateral mechanisms like the Quad and AUKUS. ASEAN is always put to challenge by all those dynamics,” he told Bernama in a phone interview from Hanoi.
He noted that ASEAN’s ability to remain neutral while engaging major powers constructively is essential for regional stability.
“ASEAN must demonstrate its value as a convening power, influencing dialogues and fostering cooperation with external partners to ensure peace and stability in the region,” he said.
He said a key priority for Malaysia was to ensure ASEAN remains relevant amid global challenges such as the shifts in the United States' foreign policy, which may not have much interest in multilateralism as before.
“Proactive and timely responses to regional and global incidents, fostering dialogue to de-escalate tensions and promoting ASEAN as a mediator are vital,” he added.
Manh said ASEAN faces pressing challenges, including the situations in Myanmar and the South China Sea, climate change, and economic shifts driven by the global supply chain realignment and the economic decoupling of major powers.
He highlighted the importance of peaceful dispute resolution in the South China Sea, calling for closer collaboration among claimant states such as Malaysia and Vietnam to prevent any incidents from destabilising the region.
Malaysia and Vietnam must collaborate with other ASEAN members and China to expedite the conclusion of the Code of Conduct (CoC) negotiations and ensure the effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DoC) in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, he said.
Economically, Manh noted the Chair’s focus on strengthening internal economic integration and urged the needs for the bloc to identify new drivers of growth for the region particularly in areas such as digital transformation, grid growth, renewable energy, artificial intelligence and quantum technologies.
“Malaysia’s leadership is critical in ensuring ASEAN’s future direction will benefit our own community development, and also benefit the stability and progress of the whole region,” he said.
This year marks a significant milestone for ASEAN, as Malaysia’s chairmanship also coincides with the 10th anniversary of the ASEAN Community 2025.
ASEAN, with a population of almost 680 million people and a combined gross domestic product of US$3.8 trillion, is set to be the world fourth largest economy by 2030.
“This year is important to ASEAN. I expect Malaysia will have a lot of initiatives and actions to lead ASEAN forward, to lay the ground for the next 20 years in realising its Vision 2045 as it did 10 years ago in leading the group to adopt the ASEAN Community 2025,” Manh said.
Malaysia is hosting ASEAN 2025 under the theme “Inclusivity and Sustainability”, reflecting its aspirations to guide the 58-year-old bloc towards a more united, dynamic and sustainable future.
-- BERNAMA
