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1 1 (May 18, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govedit0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Inforr g the lgsaiedbtsI e11 S Updated May 18, 2021 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Overview The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is Southeast Asia's primary multilateral organization, a 10- member grouping of nations with a combined population of 650 million and a combined annual gross domestic product (GDP) of around $2.8 trillion in 2019. Established in 1967, it has grown into one of the world's largest regional fora, representing a strategically important region straddling some of the world's busiest sea lanes, including the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. Taken collectively, ASEAN would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy and the United States' fourth-largest export market. ASEAN's members are Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Members rotate as chair: Brunei is ASEAN's chair for 2021 and Cambodia is to assume the chair in 2022. ASEAN engages in a wide range of diplomatic, economic and security discussions through hundreds of annual meetings and through a secretariat based in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2008, the United States became the first non-ASEAN nation to appoint a representative to ASEAN, and in 2011 opened a U.S. mission to ASEAN in Jakarta with a resident Ambassador. Several other nations have followed suit. ASEAN is a diverse and informal organization. Two of its core operating principles are consensual decisionmaking and noninterference in the internal affairs of its members. Some observers argue that this style constrains ASEAN from acting strongly and cohesively on important issues. Others argue that these principles-dubbed the ASEAN Way-promote regional stability and ensure that the group's members continue to discuss issues where their interests sometimes diverge. The principle has been tested in 2021, as ASEAN seeks to address the crisis that has followed the Burmese military's February 1 coup d'etat. ASEAN and Asian Regional Architecture Asia has no dominant EU-style multilateral body, and many observers see the region's economic and security institutions as underdeveloped. ASEAN convenes and administratively supports a number of regional fora that include other governments (known as dialogue partners)' including the United States. ASEAN Member governments deeply value what they call ASEAN Centrality in the evolving regional architecture. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), established in 1994 with 26 Asian and Pacific states plus the EU, was formed to facilitate dialogue on political and security matters. The East Asia Summit (EAS), created in 2005, is an evolving leaders-level forum with a varied agenda, in which the United States gained membership in 2010. The EAS includes all 10 ASEAN members, plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. The ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting- Plus (ADMM+) was established in 2010, bringing senior defense officials from EAS members together regularly and hosting multilateral military exchanges. *Assaciation of Southeast As ian Natios Source: Graphic created by CRS. U.S.-ASEAN Relations The United States has long had strong bilateral relations with individual Southeast Asian nations, including treaty alliances with the Philippines and Thailand and a close security partnership with Singapore. Many U.S. policymakers see engagement with ASEAN as complementing bilateral relationships and strengthening the region's collective diplomatic weight as other regional players gain in economic and military power. The United States initially supported ASEAN as a means to promote regional dialogue and as a bulwark against Communism, becoming an ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 1977. In 2009, the United States acceded to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and committed to an annual U.S.-ASEAN Meeting. In 2012, the United States and ASEAN agreed to raise the level of the U.S.-ASEAN meeting to a Leaders Meeting, and in November 2015 announced a U.S.-ASEAN Strategic Partnership. Successive U.S. Administrations have identified deep U.S. interests in Southeast Asia, including fostering democracy and human rights, encouraging liberal trade and investment regimes, addressing maritime security and tensions in the South China Sea, promoting environmental protection, countering piracy and terrorism, and combatting human trafficking and trafficking in narcotics and wildlife. Some of ASEAN's members were among the first countries outside China to identify Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in early 2020. The region has experienced previous trans-national public health crises, including avian influenza and the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic, and this experience helped some ASEAN members in their initial https://crsreports.congress.gov SINGA

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