ASEAN summits in Laos may be unusually tense

Significance ASEAN leaders will meet amid heightened local tensions regarding Cambodia’s withdrawal from the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA). The group will likely discuss this issue, as well as concerns about Myanmar, the South China Sea and the Middle East. Impacts ASEAN will move closer to adopting its Community Vision 2045, aimed at guiding regional cooperation. Diverging standpoints on market access will hinder efforts to upgrade the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement. The Philippines will remain the most vociferous critic of China among the South-east Asian claimants in the South China Sea.