Noto SuonetoandBrice Tseen Fu Lee

Opinion | Asean won’t become obsolete just because a few members join Brics

Southeast Asian nations’ interest in joining the grouping is consistent with the region’s geopolitical hedging and may well strengthen Asean’s clout

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Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Maris Sangiampongsa, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah hold hands during a “family photo” at the 14th Asean-United Nations Summit in Vientiane, Laos, on October 11. Photo: EPA-EFE

Noto SuonetoandBrice Tseen Fu Lee

Published: 8:30pm, 4 Nov 2024Updated: 11:37pm, 4 Nov 2024

The latest Brics summit in Kazan, Russia, was attended by 36 leaders and top officials, as more countries seek to join the grouping that appears to offer an alternative to the Western-led system.

A geopolitical bloc, Brics – named after its earliest members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is also increasingly a geoeconomic bloc as economic partnerships grow.

Member states now include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while partner countries have expanded to include Asean members Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Interest from others in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is growing. Laos’ president, Thongloun Sisoulith, attended the summit and Myanmar has expressed the desire to join Brics as an observer.

For Asean, the question is: if its members join Brics, will it make Asean less relevant or threaten obsolescence?

Given that Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand represent over 480 million people, more than 70 per cent of the Asean population, their interest in becoming full Brics members may well affect Asean cohesion, alignment and the bloc’s unique role and influence in the global economic order.