As Malaysia prepares to assume its chairmanship of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year, MFTC in collaboration with Tamkang University organised the “Tamkang Strategy Lecture Series” entitled “The Role and Limits of #ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific Era: Imperfect, Inadequate, but Indispensable” on Nov 11 at Ching-Sheng International Conference Hall, Tamkang University.
The lecture was delivered by Professor Kuik Cheng-Chwee, a prominent Malaysian professor of international affairs and the Co-Founder and Co-Convener of UKM's East Asia and International Relations (EAIR) Caucus, and attended by more than 80 participants.
He explained on ASEAN centrality and resistence from alliance to maintain regional peace and stability. Malaysia and ASEAN acknowledge that the US-China competition is not a new challenge, thus, ASEAN would deepen hedging and welcomes countries with different ideologies or issues to maintain the neutrality of ASEAN.
While the conclusion of a Code of Conduct (COC) under Malaysia's #ASEANChairmanship2025 is highly desirable, Malaysia still has to manage expectation and remain pragmatic to uphold ASEAN's reputation by only pushing for a comprehensive and practical COC.
