I disagree with some U.S. policies. The Biden administration, in some ways, although not a complete continuation, certainly draws certain lessons and experiences from the Obama administration.
There has been some kind of downgrading, I would argue, in the United States engagement with ASEAN, despite its references to and support of ASEAN centrality. Its references to ASEAN centrality, again, get at one of the points I mentioned in my remarks, which is that most states, including the United States, are aware that ASEAN remains an important legitimating factor for other states. ASEAN may have its own legitimation problems, but so do its partners, so supporting ASEAN centrality is an important part of that.
Also, a point I wanted to make in my earlier remarks is that all states that have some interest in the region have a stake in ASEAN. The reason is that in the absence of ASEAN, you would have much more vulnerable individual states; you would have a more divided region, and you would have a much more unstable Southeast Asia.
