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1 [1] (February 12, 2026)

handle is hein.crs/govetgx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con ress~csnaI Fes drib rig I le lived H 3rch Service since 1914 Updated February 12, 2026 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is Southeast Asia's primary multilateral organization, an 11- member grouping of nations with a combined population of 684 million and a combined annual gross domestic product (GDP) of around $3.8 trillion in 2024, according to the ASEAN Statistics Division. 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 in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. Collectively, ASEAN ranks 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, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam (see Figure 1). Timor-Leste, the region's newest country, was granted full membership in October 2025. Members rotate as chair: Malaysia was ASEAN's chair for 2025, and the Philippines assumed the chair for 2026. ASEAN engages in a range of diplomatic, economic, and security discussions through hundreds of annual meetings and through a secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia. 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, crediting ASEAN with fostering the peace and growth much of Southeast Asia has enjoyed for over 30 years. For instance, in 2011, ASEAN helped diffuse a localized but violent border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, an issue that has flared again since June 2025. ASEAN's principles have been tested in recent years as the organization seeks to mediate the conflict between those two members and address the fallout from the Burmese military's 2021 coup d'6tat, which has led to a political and humanitarian crisis. ASEAN and Asian Reg ona Architecture Unlike the European Union (EU), ASEAN has no multilateral governing body, and many observers see Asia's economic and security institutions as underdeveloped. ASEAN convenes and administratively supports a number of regional fora, several of which include other governments (known as dialogue partners), including the United States. Since the 1980s, ASEAN has been critical in driving the formation of regional institutions, a role Southeast Asian governments call ASEAN Centrality. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), first convened 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; the United States gained membership in 2010. The EAS includes all 11 ASEAN members, plus Australia, the People's Republic of China (PRC or China), India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. The ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM+), established in 2010, regularly brings senior defense officials from EAS members together and hosts military exchanges. Over the past decade, cooperation through non-ASEAN regional groupings such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the Australia-UK-U.S. (AUKUS) security partnership, and other minilateral groupings involving regional nations-including some ASEAN members-has deepened. Some Southeast Asian observers express concern that such cooperation weakens ASEAN's centrality, while others argue that multilateral integration fosters the interests of ASEAN members. Figure I. ASEAN Members 'Ass,ociation &fcoutheast Asian Nations IBODIA k PHIUPPINES BRUNEI MALAYSLA SINGAPORE I NDON ESl A f MOR LESTE Source: Graphic created by CRS. U.S.ASAN e ations The United States has long-standing 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 have seen 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 2010, it opened the U.S. Mission to ASEAN in Jakarta and appointed the first resident ambassador in 2011.