What are Southeast Asian nations doing to help the United States tackle its challenges? A reporter with the American right-wing organisation Turning Point USA put the question bluntly to US President Donald Trump’s defence chief this week in the Philippines.
As US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth pitched closer naval ties and maritime security cooperation at a gathering of defence ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and other regional powers, the question injected transactional politics into what is usually the realm of diplomatic niceties.
Analysts say the Pentagon chief’s proposal is unlikely to produce a substantial Asean-wide framework, given the bloc’s long-standing refusal to choose sides and the limits of its consensus-based system.