ASEAN summits offer essential platform for gathering Southeast Asia leaders: former Singaporean diplomat

A Singaporean expert on global affairs has highlighted the significance of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for its ability to convene leaders for regular summits and serving as a platform to promote dialogue and cooperation among Southeast Asian nations.

Kishore Mahbubani, a former Singaporean representative to the United Nations and a distinguished fellow at the National University of Singapore's Asia Research Institute, was speaking ahead of the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits, which commenced on Wednesday in Vientiane, Laos.

"ASEAN summits are held regularly among the leaders of ASEAN and that alone is so positive, because if you look at the South Asian region, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation cannot have regular summits, the leaders cannot talk to each other. And you go to Latin America too, there's so much squabbling among the regional leaders in South America. So this is where ASEAN is a miracle. The leaders can meet regularly and talk with each other," said Mahbubani.

He also emphasized the summits' critical role in shaping ASEAN's future trajectory, noting upcoming regional issues such as Indonesia's new incoming president Prabowo Subianto taking over later this month, and next month's U.S. presidential election which will garner significant global attention.

"The October meeting is important, a new president is taking over in Indonesia, and clearly, we will see stronger new directions for ASEAN coming forward. What ASEAN is preparing for is trying to figure out what happens when a new American president is elected on November 6 [following the vote on Nov 5], and I'm sure they'll be having a lot of private conversations about how to manage that transition," he said.

The ASEAN summits, which are under Laos' ASEAN chairmanship this year, are themed "ASEAN: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience," with a focus on building a more integrated, connected and resilient ASEAN community to respond to various pressing challenges and seize opportunities to bring benefits to people across the region.

The three-day event will feature related summits, including the 27th ASEAN-China Summit, the 27th ASEAN Plus Three Summit (ASEAN-China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) and the 19th East Asia Summit.

Founded in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

ASEAN summits offer essential platform for gathering Southeast Asia leaders: former Singaporean diplomat

The market sentiment has greatly improved, though details of China's recently-unveiled stimulus plans are yet to be disclosed, Hubertus Vaeth, managing director of Frankfurt Main Finance, said in a program of China Global Television Network (CGTN) that was broadcast on Wednesday.

China recently unveiled a broad stimulus plan to tackle challenges facing the country's economy. Following the stimulus package, China's stock market went up and the consumer market thrived over the National Day holiday season on October 1-7.

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) -- the country's top economic planner -- held a press briefing on the stimulus package on Tuesday, but not disclosing details of the stimulus plans.

Commenting on this development, Vaeth said that while the specifics of the policies are yet to be further refined and implemented, the market has already keenly picked up on positive signals, resulting in a significant improvement in market expectations.

"I think it's not a negative that not all policy details have been hammered out. The direction is right. The market clearly smelled that there is a massive impetus coming, and the fine tuning will leave it to the time, leave it to seeing how they -- the market -- response, how the actions of the participant in the market are. So I think this period where we see more details is a period of fine tuning. It is not changing direction. The direction is set right and and it's been a strong impetus. So I'm not worried about there is not clarity about all measures yet. China has been underweight, tremendously underweight," said Vaeth.

Vaeth also expressed the belief that the Chinese stock market will witness a lasting rebound and that the Chinese economy still holds boundless potential.

"We will have a long relay to come if things go right. What do I mean by that? There is a saying in the markets, that says, the market climbs a wall of fear, and they still figure out there. Because of that, the market climb has a long way to go, and to establish the trust, and filter these measurements down, and to stay that course on the impetus of the measurements. That is what needs to be done. And I read from what I hear coming out of China as that it's been clearly understood and it's meant to happen," said Vaeth.

China sees market sentiment improving, with stimulus plan in right direction: expert