ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional grouping of all 11 states in Southeast Asia, which aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its members. Together, its member states represent a population of more than 600 million people and a land area of over 4.5 million km² (1.7 million sq mi). The bloc generated a purchasing power parity (PPP) gross domestic product (GDP) of around US$10.2 trillion in 2022, constituting approximately 6.5% of global GDP (PPP). ASEAN member states include some of the fastest growing economies in the world, and the institution plays an integral role in East Asian regionalism.

The primary objectives of ASEAN, as stated by the association, are "to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region", and "to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter." In recent years, the bloc has broadened its objectives beyond economic and social spheres. The current Secretary-General is Kao Kim Hourn, while the chairmanship for this year is held by Malaysia, led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The ASEAN chairmanship was handed over formally to the Philippines for 2026 on 28 October 2025. Full chairmanship will be assumed on 1 January 2026.

ASEAN engages with other international entities in the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world. It is a major partner of the UNTooltip United Nations, SCOTooltip Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, PATooltip Pacific Alliance, GCCTooltip Gulf Cooperation Council, Mercosur, CELACTooltip Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and ECOTooltip Economic Cooperation Organization. It also hosts diplomatic missions throughout the world, maintaining a global network of relationships that is widely regarded as the central forum for cooperation in the region. Its success has become the driving force of some of the largest trade blocs in history, including APECTooltip Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and RCEPTooltip Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Besides their close geographic proximity, political scholars consider Southeast Asian nations a cultural crossroads between East Asia and South Asia, located at critical junctions of the South China Sea as well as the Indian Ocean, and as a result received a great deal of Islamic and Persian influence prior to the European colonial ages.

Since around 100 BCE, the Southeast Asian archipelago occupied a central position at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea trading routes, which stimulated the economy and the influx of ideas. This included the introduction of abugida scripts to Southeast Asia as well as the Chinese script to Vietnam. Besides various indigenous scripts, various abugida Brahmic scripts were widespread in both continental and insular Southeast Asia. Historically, scripts such as Pallava, Kawi (from ancient Sanskrit script) and Rencong or Surat Ulu were used to write Old Malay, until they were replaced by Jawi during Islamic missionary missions in the Malay Archipelago.

European colonialism influenced most ASEAN countries, including French Indochina (present-day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), British Burma, Malaya and Borneo (present-day Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore, and Brunei), Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia), Spanish East Indies (present-day Philippines and various other colonies), and Portuguese Timor (present-day Timor-Leste), with only Thailand (then Siam) not formed from a prior European colony. Siam served as the buffer state, sandwiched between British Burma and French Indochina, but its kings had to contend with unequal treaties as well as British and French political interference and territorial losses after the Franco-Siamese conflict of 1893 and the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909. Under European colonisation, Southeast Asian nations were introduced to European religions and technologies, as well as the Latin alphabet.

The Empire of Japan, in the vein of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere concept, sought to unite and create a pan-Asian identity against Western colonial occupation, but Japan's alliance with the Axis powers in World War II soured relations between many colonies of Europe and the United States. Defeat of Imperial Japan eventuated in decolonisation movements throughout Southeast Asia, resulting in the independent ASEAN states seen today.

The predecessor of ASEAN was the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA), formed on 31 July 1961 and consisting of Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaya. ASEAN itself was created on 8 August 1967, when the foreign ministers of five countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand - signed the ASEAN Declaration at Saranrom Palace in Bangkok, negotiated in Lam Thaen Guest House. According to the Declaration, ASEAN aims to accelerate economic, social, and cultural development in the region, as well as promoting regional peace, to collaborate on matters of shared interest, and to promote Southeast Asian studies and maintain close cooperation with existing international organisations.