Thayer Consultancy Background Brief:

ABN # 65 648 097 123

ASEAN’s 37th Summit Scene
Setter
Carlyle A. Thayer
November 10, 2020

When Vietnam assumed the ASEAN Chair it set itself five major objectives:
strengthening of ASEAN unity and solidarity; intensifying ASEAN’s economic
integration and connectivity; promoting ASEAN identity and awareness; enhancing
ASEAN’s global partnership for peace, stability and sustainable development; and
increasing ASEAN’s institutional capacity and effectiveness. Obviously, responding to
the COVID-19 pandemic became Vietnam’s first priority. This derailed putting time
and energy into the methodical pursuit of its five objectives. A proposal to extend
Vietnam’s tenure as ASEAN Chair was put to ASEAN leaders and remains dormant.
The agenda of the 37th ASEAN Summit is largely set by outstanding issues following
the 36th Summit in June. Six clusters of issues are likely to feature at the 37th Summit.
First, combatting COVID-19 on an ASEAN-wide basis and in cooperation with dialogue
partners. The three ASEAN Community Councils have been tasked to submit a
comprehensive whole-of-ASEAN-community recovery plan that will deal with the
resumption of business travel, supply chain connectivity, and distribution of a COVID-
19 vaccine on a regional basis.
Second, the Summit will consider the mid-term reviews of ASEAN Community
Blueprints 2025 and a final ASEAN Community Vision 2025.
Third, the ASEAN Secretariat will report on its review of the ASEAN Charter and
assessment of the functions of ASEAN’s institutional structure and the application of
relevant rules and procedures.
Fourth, the Summit will review and offer guidance on the Initiative for ASEAN
Integration new Work Plan for 2021-25 and the Master Plan for ASEAN Connectivity.
Fifth, the Summit should approve the establishment of the ASEAN Coordinating
Committee on Cybersecurity (ASEAN-Cyber CC).
Sixth, the Summit will review the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with
a view to signing it.
Finally, the ASEAN Summit will review and comment on five other issues: (1) a needs
assessment for the repatriation of displaced Rohingya, (2) review outstanding matters
relating to Timor-Leste’s application for membership, (3) support for the
denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, (4) endorse progress of the Code of Conduct
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in the South China Sea; and (5) enhanced relations with dialogue partners in a
multilateral setting, the ASEAN Plus Three and the East Asia Summit.
The ASEAN Summit will reaffirm its commitment to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’
Statement on the Importance of Maintaining Peace and Stability in Southeast Asia by
stressing ASEAN centrality and the role of ASEAN-led mechanisms in the region’s
security architecture as the means to mitigate the risk of China-U.S. strategic rivalry
and the uncertainly of America’s current political transition.

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “ASEAN 37th Summit Scene Setter,” Thayer
Consultancy Background Brief, November 9, 2020. All background briefs are posted on
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Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and
other research support to selected clients. Thayer Consultancy was officially
registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.