ASEAN at 50

There has been an eternal role of the external actors in Southeast Asian geopolitics. The relations between the ASEAN and the external actors have always been complementary to each other given the dependence on the security guarantee of the external actors. Thus the British had to found Five Powers Defence Agreement (FPDA) to ensure security to Malaysia and Singapore while SEATO was an American project to thwart the communist expansion in the region. Even the foundation of the ASEAN is also suspected as a result of the external manoeuvring which sustained with external protection guarantee. However, the association now attempts to ensure stability in the region through its “omni-enmeshment” strategy, gathering all the contending external and regional actors under its umbrella associations. The priority of the ASEAN has traditionally been to ensure peace and tranquillity in the Southeast Asian region, which it could not and still cannot do without “external help.” ASEAN is unable to stand against the growing “Chinese challenge,” pushing its members to the external camp while efforts of external actors to counter China’s growing power pose a challenge to the ASEAN’s effort to thwart external dominance in regional geopolitics at the cost of its centrality.