ASEAN faces ‘moment of truth' to step up or risk losing relevance in a changed world: PM Wong
KUALA LUMPUR: An uncertain and turbulent world is 'a moment of truth' for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to deepen the grouping's integration or risk losing its relevance, Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Tuesday (May 27).
At the latest summit for ASEAN leaders, which was taking place amid a world upended by United States President Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs, there were 'candid discussions' on the new realities of the world and a 'renewed sense of urgency' for closer integration, he said.
These include aiming for the 10-member bloc to be completely tariff-free and with lower non-tariff barriers, pushing for more seamless trade in both goods and services, and forging cooperation in new growth areas such as the digital economy.
'There are many things that ASEAN can do to accelerate our integration and this task is more urgent than before, particularly in this new global environment,' Mr Wong told the Singapore media at the end of the two-day summit in Kuala Lumpur.
'In many ways, this is a moment of truth for ASEAN. We have to either step up and carve out a clear, purposeful role for ourselves in this changed world, or ASEAN will lose its relevance.'
He added: 'So, there is a full agenda ahead for ASEAN, and we had very good discussions in this meeting to make sure that we make good progress.'
At the summit, ASEAN leaders have reiterated the call for the regional grouping to stay united but flexible as it tackles the pressing challenges caused by the US tariffs.
Mr Wong himself had said that ASEAN should respond to the new global environment by continuing to 'constructively engage the US, individually as countries but more importantly, collectively as ASEAN'.
Responding to a question, he said this is not a contradictory approach given the region's diversity, with individual ASEAN members at various levels of economic development and having different trade balances with America.
This is why ASEAN member states will want the flexibility to engage America individually. Likewise for the same reason, the US may also prefer to engage countries individually.
There is also a benefit to engage the US as a group, Mr Wong said, adding that the approaches are hence 'complementary', rather than being mutually exclusive.
'Whether engaging as individual member states or engaging as ASEAN, our objective is to reduce (trade and investment) barriers with America,' he said.
'So, we will continue to work on both fronts.'
Asked about his meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang just before the summit's gala dinner on Monday, Mr Wong said he had 'a short conversation' with Premier Li on recent US-China discussions.
The 90-day truce between both superpowers marked a walk 'back from the brink', although concerns remain about the way forward, Mr Wong said.
'Even at today's levels of tariffs, we are talking about a tariff rate which is much higher than what used to exist pre-Liberation Day. So, you can be sure that there will still be impact on both sides,' he told reporters.
With the US and China being key growth engines of the global economy, there may be spillover impact on the rest of the world, including ASEAN and Singapore.
This means that Singapore will have to redouble efforts in strengthening trade and investment linkages with like-minded partners and find ways to steer its economy through these challenging times, he said.
TIMOR-LESTE TO JOIN ASEAN
Meanwhile, ASEAN is set to have a new member by the end of the year.
Announcing this at a press conference on Tuesday, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim whose country is this year's ASEAN chair, said Timor-Leste will become ASEAN's 11th member state, with full membership to be granted at the next regional meeting in Kuala Lumpur in October.
Timor-Leste is the youngest country in Southeast Asia, having gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after 24 years of occupation.
Its president, Jose Ramos-Horta, has long campaigned for ASEAN membership and an application was first submitted in 2011.
Timor-Leste was granted observer status to the regional body in 2022. Its full membership is contingent on meeting the criteria outlined in a roadmap which specifies three working plans on politics and security, economy, and social and cultural ties.
Mr Wong said Timor-Leste has made good progress on that roadmap.
'There are still some issues to be resolved … but given the progress that has been made so far, the leaders agreed at this meeting that we will try and expedite the outstanding issues, provide full support to Timor-Leste.
'We look forward to welcoming Timor-Leste as a full member of ASEAN by the end of this year,' he said, adding that Singapore will do its part to support this process.
The ASEAN summit marks Mr Wong's first overseas engagement since he led the People's Action Party (PAP) to victory in the May 3 General Election.
The PAP garnered 65.57 per cent of the popular vote, up from 61.24 per cent in GE2020, meaning that Mr Wong bucked a trend of dips in the ruling party's vote share after a new prime minister takes office.
Many leaders had congratulated him on the election results, Mr Wong told reporters.
'Almost everyone I met congratulated me, but it also means one thing that they took note of the election outcome.'
'If I had been re-elected, but with a reduced mandate, diminished standing, for example, I'm sure they would have still given some polite words … But I am also quite sure that at the back of their minds, they are making their own internal reassessments. Is this someone I should continue to engage? Is it worth engaging this person? Maybe I should wait and see,' he said.
Mr Wong added that he was grateful to Singaporeans for giving him and his team a clear mandate, as it was a 'significant advantage for Singapore and for the government'.
'With this clear mandate, we have the ability to engage our counterparts with confidence, and we have the ability to … make full use of this mandate in the next five years to advance and secure Singapore's position in this changed world,' he said.
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