ASEAN defence leaders will be meeting in Jakarta next week for the 17th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM). The United States-China rivalry and South China Sea tensions, as well as their impacts on ASEAN centrality and relevance are set to loom over the meeting. The defence leaders are likely to refrain from discussing in detail contentious issues such as the South China Sea tensions and the impact of a Taiwan contingency on Southeast Asia, given the ASEAN member states’ respective one-China policy and preference to avoid offending Beijing. Perhaps an unspoken concern among them is that a collective position on these issues could inevitably depict ASEAN as choosing a side, hence risking their national interests.
Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2023/11/06/managing-power-conflict-spillover-in-straits-of-malacca-and-singapore.html.
