
AI-generated summary
ASEAN was founded in 1967 and comprises 11 member states. Singapore is taking over the chairmanship from the Philippines for 2027, marking the bloc's 60th anniversary. The organization faces internal challenges including Myanmar's post-coup civil war and territorial disputes, alongside external pressures from great power rivalry.
The city state takes the helm on Asean’s 60th anniversary amid civil war, tariff threats and rising global tensions
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Published: 8:00am, 31 Aug 2026
Every bloc needs a chair capable of getting things done – and Southeast Asia watchers say that description fits no country better than Singapore.
The city state will get the chance to prove it in the bloc’s 60th anniversary year, after it takes the Asean helm from the Philippines on January 1.
Speaking at Singapore’s National Day Rally on August 22, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said the world was becoming more fractured and dangerous – one that the city state would have to “endure and survive for many years to come”.
“Our response cannot be to retreat and turn inward,” Wong said, calling for the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to deepen integration “to create a more effective single market”.
A litany of headaches stand in the way of that ambition, from Myanmar’s civil war to an unresolved Thailand-Cambodia border row, simmering South China Sea tensions and keeping a distracted United States engaged with the region.
But if any country can rise to the challenge, it is Singapore, according to Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science and international relations at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Singapore will prioritize ASEAN economic integration initiatives during its chairmanship
Likely · Within months
ASEAN will struggle to achieve consensus on Myanmar crisis response
Possible · Within months

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