ASEAN Summit Insights

(00:00:00): Guest Intro:Dr. Digby Wren, geopolitical risk analyst and policy advisor at Belt and Road Capital Partners.Li Qiang saying, [South China Sea situation] it just needs to be more understanding right now. Do you see some sort of off ramp to these tensions that continue to escalate? Or are we actually seeing some sort of imminent armed conflict with China?See Transcript link:Added Comments to those in the original interview: ASEAN is attractive to EU and US investment and trade, but the “jostling” in the South China Sea and Myanmar’s internecine feuds obscure positive economic growth indicators approaching 5% across the bloc, including Myanmar, which had 0.3% economic expansion despite a suppressive external sanctions regime (IMF/WB). (Wren, 2024)NB: “Russia is winning” refers specifically to declining Western material and financial support for Ukraine and Russia’s expanded diplomatic and security reach. The upcoming BRICS+ summit has overshadowed US efforts and the NATO Rammstein Summit has been postponed/cancelled. These indicators are widely published in leading EU and Anglo-American mastheads and streaming news media.” (Wren, 2024) Get full access to The Chair at theaseanchair.substack.com/subscribe