27 April 2026
Multilateral Matters – April 2026
The Global Economic Order in Crisis: Can ASEAN Thrive?
For decades, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has worked to build a stable economic order supported in part by trade agreements within the region and with their external dialogue partners, fuelling regional economic growth and development. However, as successive economic shocks throw the rules-based international economic order into disarray, ASEAN’s economic resilience faces its toughest stress test in its six-decade history. Can ASEAN thrive amid this geoeconomic crisis?
Featured Commentary
Adapting the ASEAN Geoeconomics Task Force: From Assessment to Action by Gordon Kang
In this quarter’s featured commentary, Gordon Kang looks at the ASEAN Geoeconomics Task Force, a group formed in 2025 to monitor the impacts of global economic uncertainties and develop ASEAN’s response. Mr Kang argues that the AGTF’s mandate should be expanded to include “emergency response coordination and preparedness” when future disruptions arise.
CMS Events and Outreach
- On 15-16 January 2026, CMS conducted a course entitled Understanding ASEAN in partnership with the Civil Service College to help Singaporean civil servants to familiarise themselves with ASEAN’s history, institutions, and work.
- CMS held its annual workshop on 12 February 2026 with the theme ASEAN and Changing Geoeconomics: Confronting Tariff Uncertainties and Technological Competition, which brought together speakers from academia, government, and industry to examine how ASEAN can respond to growing uncertainties in the global economic environment.
- In March, CMS held three book launch seminars for the edited volume The Dragon’s Emerging Order: Sino-centric Multilateralism and Global Responses at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Curtin University (Australia), and La Trobe University (Australia).
- CMS Senior Fellow Dr Alan Chong spoke at Curtin University’s Social Science Seminar Series featuring his book International Politics of Communication: Representing Community in a Globalizing World.
- On 26 March 2026, CMS held a webinar entitled Addressing Scams and Related Cybercrime in Southeast Asia: ASEAN Approaches and Challenges to examine the evolving landscape of scams and cybercrime in the region and discuss pathways for ASEAN-level cooperation in cybersecurity.
The Global Economic Order in Crisis: Can ASEAN Thrive?
For decades, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has worked to build a stable economic order supported in part by trade agreements within the region and with their external dialogue partners, fuelling regional economic growth and development. However, as successive economic shocks throw the rules-based international economic order into disarray, ASEAN’s economic resilience faces its toughest stress test in its six-decade history. Can ASEAN thrive amid this geoeconomic crisis?
Featured Commentary
Adapting the ASEAN Geoeconomics Task Force: From Assessment to Action by Gordon Kang
In this quarter’s featured commentary, Gordon Kang looks at the ASEAN Geoeconomics Task Force, a group formed in 2025 to monitor the impacts of global economic uncertainties and develop ASEAN’s response. Mr Kang argues that the AGTF’s mandate should be expanded to include “emergency response coordination and preparedness” when future disruptions arise.
CMS Events and Outreach
- On 15-16 January 2026, CMS conducted a course entitled Understanding ASEAN in partnership with the Civil Service College to help Singaporean civil servants to familiarise themselves with ASEAN’s history, institutions, and work.
- CMS held its annual workshop on 12 February 2026 with the theme ASEAN and Changing Geoeconomics: Confronting Tariff Uncertainties and Technological Competition, which brought together speakers from academia, government, and industry to examine how ASEAN can respond to growing uncertainties in the global economic environment.
- In March, CMS held three book launch seminars for the edited volume The Dragon’s Emerging Order: Sino-centric Multilateralism and Global Responses at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Curtin University (Australia), and La Trobe University (Australia).
- CMS Senior Fellow Dr Alan Chong spoke at Curtin University’s Social Science Seminar Series featuring his book International Politics of Communication: Representing Community in a Globalizing World.
- On 26 March 2026, CMS held a webinar entitled Addressing Scams and Related Cybercrime in Southeast Asia: ASEAN Approaches and Challenges to examine the evolving landscape of scams and cybercrime in the region and discuss pathways for ASEAN-level cooperation in cybersecurity.
