The recent declaration of the ‘ASEAN Leaders’ on the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific for the Future-Ready ASEAN and the ASEAN-Centered Regional Architecture’ may have a long title, but its main message is clear: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN ) aims to remain the main regional organization that addresses the challenges of the Asian region. Issued on October 9, 2024, during the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane, this declaration underscores ASEAN’s commitment to promoting a peaceful environment amidst regional and global uncertainty. Consistent with previous statements, it emphasizes ASEAN’s role in promoting inclusive cooperation, maintaining peace, supporting international law, and promoting regional citizenship and diversity. At its core, the declaration reiterates ASEAN’s commitment to an “ASEAN centrality,” especially given the political dynamics in the Indo-Pacific.
This year’s declaration, with its emphasis on peace and stability, is very different from that of 2023. Among the seven statements issued at the 43rd ASEAN Summit in 2023, ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on ASEAN as an Epicentrum of Growth present the important message of the Leader. Although it began by acknowledging the disruptive power of geostrategic change, the declaration focused more on resilience and growth, defining areas for improvement in many areas including health, climate change, disaster preparedness, food security, energy systems, macroeconomic stability, and supply chain connectivity. Introduce growth-enhancing factors, including global supply chains, digital transformation, and efforts to achieve a green, blue, innovative, and inclusive economy. As a result, the 2023 declaration positioned ASEAN as a “growth hub,” prioritizing economic and social stability over political security concerns. In contrast, the 2024 declaration shifts its focus, elevating the pillar of political security to prominence—a significant realignment of ASEAN’s priorities within one year.
The 2024 Declaration revisits ASEAN’s common themes, now with a strong emphasis on security. It reaffirms ASEAN’s leadership in maintaining regional stability, emphasizes ASEAN-led approaches, and strives for regional governance as a means of peaceful conflict resolution. This declaration emphasizes ASEAN’s commitment to international law, referring to important documents such as the UN Charter, the ASEAN Charter, and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC). It also promotes inclusive cooperation and seeks support from regional partners. However, it makes a clear statement that the architecture of the Indo-Pacific region must always be centered on ASEAN, highlighting the important role of ASEAN in the region.
Why does ASEAN’s centrality need such a strong reaffirmation? In recent years, the rise of the Indo-Pacific as a strategic framework has challenged the role of ASEAN as the main regional organization of the Asia-Pacific. Critics have argued that ASEAN’s slow decision-making and limited enforcement powers undermine its ability to deal with the complex security environment of the Indo-Pacific. However, such criticism, which is sometimes the result of comparative bias in regional studies, is often quick to forget the unique role of ASEAN as a regional actor. Unlike the European Union (EU)—a supranational organization focused on deep integration—ASEAN was established as an intergovernmental organization with the primary goal of promoting regional peace, security, and mutual respect. Although both organizations promote peace through economic development, ASEAN prioritizes the preservation of the national sovereignty of its various member states rather than unifying their sovereignty.
Emphasizing sovereignty creates a complex decision-making process, which can limit ASEAN’s flexibility. However, this structure highlights ASEAN’s strengths: its ability to build consensus and serve as an important forum for dialogue. ASEAN’s approach, which prioritizes non-interference, mutual respect, and consensus-building, has contributed to maintaining regional stability and dialogue among major powers. In the Indo-Pacific era, ASEAN’s unifying power—its ability to bring together diverse actors for dialogue and cooperation—remains invaluable. The diversity of the organization’s ability to integrate, demonstrated by the ASEAN Regional Forum as an example, is the basis of ASEAN’s enduring relevance in an increasingly competitive world environment marked significantly by tensions between the United States and China. Amid rising levels of polarisation, the organization’s historical proximity and disagreements also enhance its ability to navigate the Indo-Pacific as an area for increased superpower competition.
The Indo-Pacific is often framed as a turning point in the world landscape of Asia. However, ASEAN’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific—particularly through the 2019 ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP)—suggests continuity rather than disruption. The decision of Southeast Asian countries to collectively define their position in the Indo-Pacific by adopting the AOIP as a regional strategy, rather than pursuing individual domestic strategies, illustrates this trend.
Recent debates about the future of Indonesia’s foreign policy echo the widespread emphasis on youth associated with the Indo-Pacific and provide important insights into the centrality of ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific that is currently being debated. As the main advocate of the adoption of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), Indonesia has played an important role in integrating the new concept of the Indo-Pacific with the existing ASEAN values of stability, cooperation, and inclusiveness. Some analysts, however, speculate that Indonesia may withdraw from the Indo-Pacific under the Prabowo administration that came to power last month. This view reflects the disciplinary tendency to view regional studies primarily from the perspective of high-powered politics. As ASEAN’s geographic and institutional heart, Indonesia cannot “leave” its neighborhood, and the emergence of the Indo-Pacific will not change that. Despite the adoption of words, the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific shows Indonesia’s commitment to embedding ASEAN values in the Indo-Pacific framework, making it a strengthening of ASEAN principles rather than a paradigm shift.
Under the previous President Joko Widodo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, led by Retno Marsudi, advocated the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) as an important element of Indonesia’s foreign policy. This representation reflects Indonesia’s view of the Indo-Pacific as a natural extension of the ASEAN core. Although each successive Indonesian administration may seek to diversify its foreign policy with new landmark ideas, the AOIP’s support for ASEAN’s long-term goal of centrality ensures its continued relevance to both Indonesia and ASEAN. From an outsider’s point of view, the adoption of Indo-Pacific names by ASEAN may be seen as a radical change. If in fact, for the political elite involved in the development and establishment of the AOIP, the Indo-Pacific concept strongly confirms the role of ASEAN as a stabilizing force rather than introducing a radical change. In other words, the document shows the reaffirmation of ASEAN—and by extension, Indonesia’s commitment—to the continued tolerance of the organization in dealing with critical issues in Southeast Asian countries, regardless of whether one places Southeast Asia as part of the Indo-Pacific or no.
The aforementioned announcement reflects ASEAN’s continued efforts to remain central to regional affairs, even in the wider Indo-Pacific region. By emphasizing the importance, stability, and inclusive cooperation, the leader’s declaration reiterates ASEAN’s readiness to face contemporary regional challenges and its important role in shaping the architecture of the Indo-Pacific region. It also extends an invitation to foreign partners to support the AOIP in line with ASEAN principles. This reaffirmation of ASEAN’s role is not a departure from tradition but a continuation of its longstanding commitment to Asian regionalism.
ASEAN’s Indo-Pacific vision remains rooted in its core principles of centrality, multilateralism, and inclusiveness. Although the Indo-Pacific concept has gained global traction in thinking about contemporary Asia, ASEAN’s commitment to (regional) multilateralism confirms its relevance as a key regional integrator. At the same time, a declaration like the 2024 leader’s declaration emphasizes the organization’s commitment to peace, communication and cooperation, strengthening its permanent role in the construction of the Asian region. Amid geopolitical uncertainty, ASEAN’s “sempiternal” message of centrality remains more important than ever in the Indo-Pacific.
Further Studies in E-International Relations
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