Three key shifts emerged in what Asean wants to build, how it wants to stabilise the world around it, and how it is increasingly treating economics as inseparable from security.

The future

While the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords between Thailand and Cambodia stole the headlines, Asean and its partners were busy negotiating something less theatrical but more consequential — the next generation of economic cooperation frameworks.

Chief among them was the Digital Economy Framework Agreement (Defa), the region’s first attempt at a binding deal to coordinate digital rules, data flows and cross-border innovation.

The Defa is still in the works, but the summit gave it further momentum, with Asean economic ministers reaffirming their intention to finalise and launch the deal by 2026.

Alongside Defa, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit signalled renewed interest in integrating Asean with major economies in the Indo-Pacific, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

The RCEP Summit, the first of its kind since the trade deal was launched in 2022, reduces trade barriers and deepens supply chain cooperation, but also hints at economic and geopolitical recalibration.

As Japan’s foreign affairs press secretary Toshihiro Kitamura told FMT, discussions will centre around strategies to develop and promote cooperation under the RCEP framework.

Besides the erosion of the rules-based trading order, tariff wars are in play and there is a gloomier global economic outlook projected for 2026. Asean members and partners are looking to hedge by investing more in alternative regional economic platforms like RCEP.

As Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim put it: “The aim (of the RCEP meeting) is to take stock, accelerate implementation, and demonstrate that Asia can still lead the cause of openness even as others turn inward.”

Thai foreign minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow emphasised the need for greater integration, including bolstering RCEP to take regional trade “to a higher level”.

“Asean is the second most successful regional organisation. Our region is one of the highest growth areas in the world.

“There’s a lot of potential and if we integrate more, we can enlarge the market. There’ll be more trade among us, and especially now we’re working on the digital platform (Defa).

“We also have to go beyond (Asean) because this Indo-Pacific region, what used to be called Asia-Pacific East Asia, is also the centre of the global economy.

“Trade is a very important issue,” he said.

Stabilising a world on edge

Besides drawing up the rules, the Kuala Lumpur meetings also served as a platform to de-risk the global economy by keeping rivals in conversation.

Rather than linear growth, overlapping shocks such as conflicts, climate disruption, tech decoupling and trade fragmentation are now shaping the world.

Much of it is driven or worsened by geopolitical rivalries, like the US-China tensions.

Former diplomat K Ilango is convinced that Asean’s convening power cannot be dismissed easily, especially when it comes to facilitating discussions centred on safeguarding supply-chain integrity and managing systemic rivalry.

“Everything works around this place,” he said, referring to the Indo-Pacific region. “China (and Asia) manufactures, and China (and Asia) consumes — products move from this part to the rest of the world.”

Ilango noted that while easing tensions and connecting adversaries are no easy feats, they are essential, given how dependent Asean economies are on trade and investment.

“We are in a different era altogether. America does not seem very convinced about this open global trading system,” he said, referring to Washington’s policy to keep China as a strategic rival.

“It is in our interest, all of us, to keep it intact. But what it means is that we have to convince America that it is also in its own interests to make sure that this is also kept intact, even when Washington is concerned that its position of superiority is challenged by China.”

He said it was more beneficial to manage this strategic competition constructively, highlighting that helping to defuse these tensions and build an alternative, resilient economic architecture would take time.

“The conversations leaders have here will build into future conversations. US president Donald Trump is going to Jeju after this and he will be meeting China president Xi Jinping over there,” he said. “Everything builds on this.”

Asean’s economic-security combo

Perhaps, the most telling change at this year’s summit was not in what was said, but how the meetings were held.

For the first time in decades, Asean convened a joint session among foreign and economic ministers, a signal that the bloc now sees economic policy and security strategy as inseparable.

From critical rare earths supply chains to semiconductor export controls, it is clear that geopolitics now shapes market outcomes.

Joanne Lin, senior fellow at Singapore’s Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, noted that Asean’s major economic moves this year are more than “policy buzzwords”.

Rather, its frameworks — including the Asean Geoeconomics Task Force, which made recommendations to leaders at the 47th Asean Summit — are helping to equip the region with the necessary tools to navigate the unbreakable relationship between international politics and economics.

“Malaysia’s chairmanship has been quite defined by pragmatism and some quiet effectiveness. The establishment of the Asean Geoeconomics Task Force really stands out as a strategic innovation within Asean,” Lin said.

“Rather than reacting defensively to major power rivalry, which Asean has always been doing, I think Malaysia has positioned Asean to anticipate and shape the economic agenda.”

Lin added that the task force, along with the rollout of the Asean Industrial Strategy, marked a turning point in how the bloc approached regional resilience.

“It’s not just through trade liberalisation, but also through long-term industrial cooperation in areas like semiconductors, EVs and green tech.”

Designing around disruption

In a world where globalisation is cracking and alliances are hardening, Asean is providing an essential service: platform-building. Rather than picking sides, the bloc is building the scaffolding for states to coexist, co-invest and co-steer an increasingly messy economy.

Whether it succeeds depends on follow-through. The Defa still has to be finalised, the RCEP must deliver more than access, and joint ministerial dialogues must become a norm, not a novelty.

Asean may not control the tides of globalisation, but it is increasingly redrawing the map.