ASEAN must be transformed or replaced

A proposal to achieve a more effective and democratic regional organization

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20210521 ASEAN online summit Hanoi.jpg

A screen shows ASEAN leaders attending an online summit in Hanoi in November 2020: one solution would be to begin a process requiring its authoritarian member states to initiate democratization or lose their membership. © VNA/AP

Kasit Piromya was Thai foreign minister from 2008 to 2011.

The Feb. 1 coup in Myanmar came as a shock to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, brutally exposing its fundamental shortcomings as a cohesive regional grouping. It is time to establish a new structure that can provide much-needed leadership and coordination.

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