Southeast Asia’s Growing Importance to Global Trade

ASEAN and Australian leaders at a summit in Melbourne, Australia, March 4, 2024. Photo credit: George Chan / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect.

The world is in the initial stages of an evolution in the structure of global trade. While popular narratives about the era of globalization described a wide dispersion of trade flows and supply chains to all corners of the world, the reality was different. Global trade remained very concentrated. For example, close to 40 percent […]

Southeast Asia between Major Powers: Lessons for the Middle East

US President Joe Biden with ASEAN leaders during the 2022 ASEAN summit in Cambodia, November 2022. Photo credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarqu

I once asked a Vietnamese friend what an impending leadership change in Hanoi meant for his country’s relations with China. “Every Vietnamese leader,” he replied, “must get along with China; every Vietnamese leader must stand up to China; and if you cannot do both at the same time, you don’t deserve to be the leader.” […]

The ASEAN Model: A Vision of Middle East Integration Beyond the Abraham Accords

Asean Summit in Bangkok (top) and The Negev Summit in Sde Boker (bottom). Photos credit: Koki Kataoka / The Yomiuri Shimbun, REUTERS

The summit of foreign ministers came together on relatively short notice. It was unstructured, informal, with little of the staff work or pre-negotiation that normally precedes such gatherings. The agenda was slim and general, and the outcome rather modest. But viewed through a historical scope, the results were transformational. I am not referring to the […]