Vietnam border, seas, islands

Tokyo, June 26 (VNA) - The 36th ASEAN Summit, held online on June 26, presents a challenge not only for the ten-nation bloc but also for its 2020 Chair, Vietnam, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has said.

In an article published in the Nikkei Asia Review on June 25, Le Thu Huong said that Vietnam joined ASEAN in 1995, nearly three decades after it was founded. Its economy lagged behind the six existing ASEAN members at that time, but the subsequent quarter of a century has seen it post impressive growth, despite the recent effect of the US-China trade war on the region.

She wrote that Vietnam is seen to have performed strongly in the fight against COVID-19, earning respect from wealthier and more developed member states such as Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia for its suppression of the disease.

The country remains economically less developed than many other ASEAN member states but is poised to minimise the economic hit from COVID-19, recovering faster from the post-pandemic global recession and adapting to new opportunities better than most of its neighbours, she said.

It has proved a capable host in previous stints as ASEAN Chair, which rotates annually. It has also taken a pivotal role in conflict management in the East Sea, emerging as the region’s frontline defender of the territorial status quo. More importantly, it has expressed strong support for ASEAN’s institutional relevance in the region.

For all these reasons, she went on, Vietnam’s fellow ASEAN members appear confident in Hanoi’s diplomatic capability, even in the trying circumstances of an online and relatively underprepared summit.

Whatever the outcome of the virtual summit, however, the group needs to come to terms with the fact that no single member can restore its diplomatic centrality. That requires a collective effort of the willing and the committed, Huong wrote./.