President Barack Obama will host a summit with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in California on Feb. 15 and 16, the White House said on Wednesday. [...] “This unprecedented gathering – the first hosted by the United States with the ASEAN leaders – builds on the deeper partnership that the United States has forged with ASEAN since 2009 and will further advance the Administration’s rebalance to Asia and the Pacific,” 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday said that the India-Japan bilateral relationship has the “greatest potential,” a view that was shared by his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

A year and a half since China began rapidly building and militarizing artificial islands in the contested, resource-rich waters of the South China Sea, the states most threatened by Chinese expansion are looking for ways to push back more forcefully. 

On October 21, Vietnam and the Philippines convened the eighth meeting of their bilateral cooperation committee. The deliberations focused on specific measures for advancing collaboration as the two ASEAN states are expected to lift ties to a strategic partnership next month.

ASEAN members are focusing on important emerging issues in the region and have opted to approach them using soft diplomacy, with soccer as one of their tools. 

Bangkok prepares to launch the brand new Asean Cultural Center. With the start of the Asean Economic Community less than five months away, Bangkok is once again underscoring its intention to become the hub of Asean with the opening on Friday of the first Asean Cultural Center.