East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao reacts as Japanese high school dancers perform during the gala dinner for the ASEAN-Japan commemorative summit in Tokyo on December 17, 2023. //AFP
At the recent Asean foreign ministers’ retreat in Luang Prabang, quite a few of the leaders supported Timor Leste joining Asean by next year. In particular, Malaysia, which takes over the chairmanship in 2025, made it clear that it wishes to chair an 11-member Asean.
When Asean started to enlarge its membership after the end of the Indochina war, the inclusion of Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar, was…
