Collective Leadership for East Asia and ASEAN's Trans-Asian Role

Adjustments to the major shift in economic power in Asia have been made harder with the rise in protectionism in the United States (US) and the fracture in Europe. The multilateral economic regime is under threat and with it, Asia’s economic and political security. The weight and importance that Asia now has in the multilateral system suggests that leadership must come from the region to preserve and strengthen that global system. No one country can lead in Asia, which has several large powers and divergent interests. Asian collective leadership is now critical to global economic policy outcomes at the core of the interests of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN remains central to broader regional cooperation and institution building. The process of its economic integration underpins its centrality in Asian affairs. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)1 is important to entrenching and expanding that process for ASEAN. The RCEP is crucial for ASEAN’s capacity to manage its economic and political security interests with its large neighbours in the region. The existing regional institutions and processes will be made more effective if there is more cohesion in their agendas and memberships. Better connecting the existing regional economic and political cooperation will help to navigate and manage current and future challenges to regional prosperity. Three principles of collective leadership should guide East Asian community building: 1. Shared commitment to multilateral principles and processes 2. Consensus decision-making based on equality and shared partnership 3. Building on international rules and norms These principles have their antecedents in the evolution of those of ASEAN cooperation and will be needed for broader Asian and trans-Asian cooperation to manage the vastly different circumstances of the regional and global system