Showing 1 - 10 of 39
Rethinking Asean's Palestine strategy
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 07/10/2025
» Has the Asean chair upped the ante on the bloc's strategy regarding Palestine?
Cambodia's bluster fails at UN event
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 30/09/2025
» At the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Thailand and Cambodia verbally clashed again over their border dispute. What stood out was not just the usual complaints, but the gap between quiet promises made behind closed doors and loud posturing in public.
Is Asean now a new 'balancing wheel'?
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 15/07/2025
» Last week's Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting reflects its continued relevance in an increasingly unstable world. Amid US unilateralism and US President Donald Trump's tariff nationalism, Asean has reasserted itself as a balancing wheel -- a stabilising force on which its dialogue partners can still depend.
Anticipating Malaysia's Asean chair
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 29/10/2024
» Among Asean watchers, it has become a pattern that a significant milestone follows whenever Malaysia takes on the chairmanship. In 2005, Malaysia helped establish the East Asia Summit (EAS), and in 2015, the Asean Community Vision 2025 was launched. Many policymakers and scholars agree that the next chairmanship is perfectly timed for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, one of the region's most experienced leaders.
Thais must join Global Peace Summit
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 11/06/2024
» This weekend, Thailand will join 100-plus countries at the Burgenstock Resort in Switzerland for the upcoming Global Peace Summit. Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines have confirmed their participation. East Timor, which is expected to become a full Asean member in the future, is also participating.
Xi's visit signals better Sino-Vietnam ties
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 19/12/2023
» About 18 hours ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's trip here, at the Tam Vi, a Michelin-star Vietnamese restaurant, a group of young Chinese entrepreneurs were discussing the prospects of his historic visit on Dec 12-13.
Asean summit forges fresh strategies
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 05/09/2023
» With its theme "Asean Matters: Epicentrum of economic growth", the Indonesian chair has raised the Asean playing field to an unprecedented level, especially as the bloc has to engage with a new geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape. That helps explain why Indonesian President Joko Widodo or Jokowi has to reiterate that Asean needs an extraordinary tactical strategy to face the current global turmoil when he met on Friday with a group of high-level Asean businessmen and investors.
Asean mapping out a vision for 2045
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 15/08/2023
» Regional experts and scholars have been busy squeezing their brains to draft Asean's vision for the next two decades. They are already halfway there. However, a lot more needs to be done to ensure that the new Asean Community Post 2025 Vision, which will now run up to 2045, will fit the overall aspiration of Asean citizens, who currently number roughly 672 million.
Asean broadens its geopolitical profile
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 18/07/2023
» Asean's geopolitical profile has significantly expanded under Indonesia's chairmanship, especially regarding the bloc's external relations with the great powers. Jakarta might be found wanting in its addressing of the Myanmar crisis, but that's understandable given the complexity of the stakeholders involved both on the battlefield and beyond.
Asean no-nuke treaty in perilous times
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 13/06/2023
» The Thai word, chiew-chiew, which means relax and respond in kind, is a fitting description of Asean's current attitude towards the fiercely strategic competition between the United States and China.