Published: 17 Jan 2025

Auhor: Sharon Seah

Former Fox News host turned presidential nominee for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s inability to name any ASEAN country in his Senate confirmation hearing was concerning but frankly, not surprising. General awareness about Southeast Asia — compared to Northeast Asia — in Washington DC is low. More significantly, given the strength of the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) narrative under Trump 2.0, the ASEAN Chair’s job just got a lot harder. This is the same for Cambodia, which is Coordinator of ASEAN-US dialogue relations. Securing a Summit with incoming President Trump or anybody from the new Administration is going to be a tall order — but perhaps it is better for ASEAN to fly under Washington’s radar for now.

The ASEAN foreign ministers will meet this weekend for their first Retreat on Langkawi, off the northwest coast of peninsular Malaysia, to set the bloc’s agenda for the year. How ASEAN can navigate the increasingly tough geopolitical scene likely will dominate their conversation.

For full article, please open the link:

https://fulcrum.sg/malaysias-asean-chairmanship-facing-treacherous-geopolitical-headwinds/

The article was published by ISEAS.

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position or view of IRSEA