Sincerity of US vision for Asean put to test

Biden flanked by the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah (left) and Joko Widodo at the US-Asean Special Summit in Washington DC on May 12, 2022. - AFP

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): Amid China’s exceptional sway in South-East Asia, the United States sought to reaffirm its previous advances during the Asean-US Special Summit earlier this month, which were aimed to rekindle its once-neglected Asean ties whilst celebrating 45 years of the engagement.

In a webinar on Tuesday (May 31) hosted by The Habibie Center, Asean analysts and Steve Weston, the chargé d’affaires for the US Mission to Asean, dissected the first-year gains and second-year challenges for US President Joe Biden, especially in terms of South-East Asia engagement.