Analysis | The 47th ASEAN Summit: Recentring Asia
The 47th ASEAN Summit was held in Malaysia and attended by US President Donald Trump. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Summit virtually
By Vivek Mishra
Published : October 28, 2025 at 4:30 PM IST
In many ways, the 47th ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS) held in Malaysia represented a defining moment for the effort to recentre Asia in the global geopolitical landscape. Over the past few years, world attention has been monopolised by developments emanating from Washington, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the deepening conflict in the Middle East. Against this backdrop, the ASEAN and EAS meetings provided a timely reminder that Asia as an engine of global growth and a critical theatre of strategic competition remains indispensable to shaping the future of global governance. Three broad perspectives emerged from this year's ASEAN and EAS meetings.
The US is not walking away from the Indo-Pacific. The attendance of US President Donald Trump at the summit in Kuala Lumpur underscored that Washington's Indo-Pacific strategy remains central to its global outlook, even if its intensity appears diminished in recent years. While much of Trump's second term has been characterised by renewed focus on domestic priorities and hemispheric issues in the Americas, his decision to attend the summit in Malaysia signalled that the US continues to recognise the strategic salience of Asia.
Trump's participation was part of his three-nation tour of Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, culminating in a scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Seoul. The objective is to cool the temperature on an escalating U.S.-China trade war that had begun to unsettle global markets. While the optics of engagement were significant, the underlying message emerged that America's Indo-Pacific security vision remains alive, even as it pursues a more transactional foreign policy.
A second major takeaway from the summit was the recognition that trade disruption has become the new normal, driven largely by Washington's protectionist economic policies. The idea that trade could be used as a strategic lever to reorder global relationships has now become an accepted part of the geopolitical playbook. For ASEAN, a bloc founded on the principles of free trade and economic cooperation, this trend strikes at the heart of its raison d’être.
The symbolism of hosting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) meetings alongside the ASEAN summit was therefore deliberate. It was an assertion that many countries remain committed to open markets, rules-based trade, and multilateralism, even as great powers drift toward economic nationalism.
Trump's view, of course, has long been the opposite that other nations have taken advantage of the US through unfair trade practices. His administration's attempts at course corrections have led to an erosion of trust in the global trade system, as countries struggle to navigate a landscape of tariffs, supply chain shocks, and shifting alliances. The EAS in Malaysia, then, served as a testing ground for whether Asia could hold together its economic integration project in the face of such turbulence.
A third critical insight from the summit was the reaffirmation that, despite global fatigue with multilateralism, Asia remains invested in cooperative frameworks. India, in particular, has positioned itself as a champion of this approach. As India noted during the summit:
"At the end of the day, the realities of technology, competitiveness, market size, digitisation, connectivity, talent, and mobility cannot be ignored. Multipolarity is not just here to stay, it is here to grow." This statement encapsulated India's evolving worldview that seeks to anchor multipolarity in economic pragmatism rather than in ideology. It also reflected a shared sentiment across ASEAN that while the West turns inward, Asian nations must shoulder greater responsibility for maintaining open and rules-based cooperation.
India's Opportunity
Although historical, India's engagement with ASEAN carries contemporary urgency. Among all regional blocs, ASEAN remains the most successful economic integration project in Asia, a sharp contrast to South Asia's disunity, where the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) remains paralysed. Yet, even as India's asymmetric size and influence have occasionally bred apprehension among its neighbours, New Delhi's diplomacy in recent years has been marked by restraint and balance. Whether in the Maldives, Sri Lanka, or Nepal, India's approach has combined developmental assistance with respect for domestic politics has helped rebuild trust in its immediate neighbourhood.
Today, however, India, like many others, faces immense unpredictability. Its economic interdependence with both the United States and China – the two largest economies - presents a unique challenge. With Washington's trade realignments and Beijing's assertive economic expansion, India must carefully diversify its value and supply chains to ensure resilience. In this light, ASEAN offers a stable and predictable partnership.
India's Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the bloc already provides significant advantages, despite being underutilised. The current geopolitical churn may offer an opportunity to revitalise these linkages, deepen connectivity, and enhance cooperation in critical and emerging technologies, digital infrastructure, and maritime security.
At the summit, India's articulation of shared destiny with ASEAN, of - "The 21st century is our century — the century of India and ASEAN" — resonated strongly. It reflected both ambition and an acknowledgment of shared responsibility in shaping the economic and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of ETV Bharat)
