The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was said to be the driver of Asia-Pacific’s regional economic integration in the wake of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
There was an informal agreement between the 10 ASEAN members and Japan, South Korea and China that the region’s integration project would proceed based on the ASEAN way — a consensus-based decision-making process — as the foundational approach to promoting deeper and broader regional economic, as well as other forms of integration. Japan, South Korea and China were seen as the engine of regional economic integration whereas the ASEAN grouping was seen as the driver.
ASEAN's role as the driver of regional integration has changed due to several factors: the intensifying U.S.-China strategic competition, the release of Indo-Pacific strategies by many countries and the rise of various minilateral relationships. These relationships include the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the AUKUS agreement between Australia, the U.S. and the U.K., and recent agreements among Manila, Tokyo and Washington, as well as Seoul, Tokyo and Washington, aimed at addressing regional challenges through a coordinated approach.
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