The experts warned further that lingering, unresolved maritime disputes among ASEAN members, often kept outside established arbitration mechanisms, risk undermining regional unity at a time when global regard for territorial integrity and the rule of law is fading.

In recent years, amid a rapidly changing global order and the increased interest of rival superpowers Beijing and Washington in expanding their influence in the Southeast Asian region, ASEAN members have found themselves at times struggling to protect their region’s strategic autonomy, with external interests posing security and political challenges. 

Caught between competing powers, the 10-member bloc has found it difficult to assert its regional principles, including efforts to keep the region nuclear weapon-free and to respond decisively to geopolitical developments, such as China’s increasingly assertive posture in the South China Sea.

Beijing’s sweeping so-called “nine-dash line” claim over the resource-rich waters, often enforced by aggressive coast guard patrols, has long been a flashpoint for several ASEAN members like Vietnam and the Philippines, whose maritime territories are disputed by China.

Despite the Philippines’ legal victory in the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling, which invalidated China’s claims over Manila’s exclusive economic zones, Beijing has refused to comply, continuing its confrontational actions in the waters.

Read also: Whither ASEAN in the South China Sea?

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