Author: Michael Tene
Published by: SCMP
20 Aug 2025
The new cold war could promote Asean’s autonomy by creating space for choice, but only so long as the bloc exhibits strategic coherence
As Asean celebrates its 58th anniversary, it is inhabiting a liminal moment, one that straddles the unmarked border between two international eras. One era is lingering but on its way out as another is hobbling its way in. The Cold War is long gone and the subsequent period of American unipolar primacy is drawing to a close, albeit without a new global order to replace it.
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The author, Ambassador R.M. Michael Tene is Honorary Member of the Romanian Institute for Europe-Asia Studies – IRSEA and gave his consent for this article to be republished by IRSEA.
H.E. Ambassador R.M. Michael Tene is a senior Indonesian diplomat. He served at Indonesian Embassies in London (1997-2001) and Washington DC (2005-2009). He was a Spokeperson of the Indonesian MFA (2010-2014) and an Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of Indonesia for the UN and other international organizations in Geneva (2015-2018). He also served as the Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN for Community and Corporate Affairs (2019-2021) and the Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political Security Community (2021-2024).
Concurrently, Ambassador Michael Tene is a very fine and deep thinking observer and analyst of the world international developments, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. As a very recently (up to February 2024) Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN for Political Security Community – the first out of the three important ASEAN Communities, his opinions, considerations and suggestions on ASEAN are of an inestimable value.
The opinions expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position or view of IRSEA