This year's annual summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations involving its member states and their dialogue partners will be remembered as potentially historic failures. The shortcomings are not by ASEAN, but by two of its diplomatic partners — the United States and India — who failed to engage the organization with the seriousness that demonstrates their commitment to the region and its future.

The ASEAN summits are intended to cement the organization's "centrality" to regional discussions. The group has long feared manipulation or marginalization by outside powers — Washington and Moscow during the Cold War, Washington and Beijing today — and as a result demanded that those governments, along with others that seek to engage the region, do so on ASEAN's terms. The organization has succeeded and every government puts "ASEAN centrality" at the forefront of remarks to regional audiences.

Words are not enough, though. More indicative for the region's officials and citizens was the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to skip the summit for the second consecutive year, preferring instead to host the Washington Nationals, the World Series champions, at the White House, and to campaign for the Republican candidate in the Kentucky state gubernatorial election. He dispatched national security adviser Robert O'Brien in his place, who took office just last month and is not a Cabinet official.