Opinion | With Singapore in the hot seat, the stakes are high for Asean
City state faces daunting challenges but it’s in a unique position to steer region towards greater cooperation
Singapore chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year, and arguably, there couldn’t be a better-equipped nation to lead the bloc at such a crucial stage in regional geopolitics.
The city state does, however, face daunting challenges amid rising Sino-American rivalry in Asia and festering maritime disputes in the region, from the South China Sea to the Mekong River.
Though Asean operates on a consensus basis, the chair has the prerogative to set the agenda and steer the direction of sensitive regional discussions.
The chair – a role that rotates from country to country every year – can also veto statements it deems inimical to regional interests, or unilaterally release a “chairman’s statement” in the event there are irreconcilable differences among member states. It has considerable scope to shape the direction of multilateral engagements in the region.
Singapore is by far the most developed nation in Southeast Asia, with a wide range of assets at its disposal. As a founding member, the city state has time and again served as the linchpin of Asean, diligently keeping the tenuously built regional body intact during times of crises in the past five decades.
