Despite public diplomacy efforts by Pacific Alliance and ASEAN members alike emphasizing the desirability of upscaling their relations, actual progress will face challenges on several fronts. [...] Nonetheless, the current context offers the Pacific Alliance and ASEAN an outstanding opportunity to build up their partnership.

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations celebrates its 50th anniversary, the complexity of the internal and external environment is severely testing its approach to cooperative security that rests, above all, on preserving the sovereignty of each of the 10 member states.

A new distribution of the strategic, geoeconomic, military and political potentials is currently taking place in the world. Hence we must orient these new mechanisms towards a peaceful, homogeneous and stable development of the world market and the world system. Otherwise - and once again there are signs of a possible war - our global system will collapse without producing practicable alternative options.

The Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation, the highest level of bilateral cooperation between China and Singapore starts today, February 27. Singapore Deputy PM Teo Chee Hean arrived in Beijing on Sunday for a three day visit at the invitation of China's Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. Both leaders are co-chairs of the platform, which is for promoting dialogue between China and Singapore.

Indonesia has decided that its foreign policy in 2017 will focus on intensifying interactions with other countries to protect the nation`s interests, security, ideological objectives, and economic prosperity. To this end, the country continues to participate in implementing world order based on freedom, lasting peace, and social justice. Creating a peaceful world is also one of the national goals outlined in the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

For its 50th founding anniversary of the ASEAN and the China-ASEAN year of tourism cooperation, Philippines is tasked to execute as the current rotating chair of the ASEAN and China is reported to express its support to the country.

So far, Duterte has toured Laos, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. [...] the tours are potentially beneficial for Duterte, who lacks experience in national politics and international diplomacy. He intends to gather insights from various ASEAN states to strengthen engagements and build a common action agenda on regional issues. Just how this corresponds to Duterte’s broader foreign and security policies remains to be seen.

Mr Teruyuki Watanabe was seeking a new challenge after retiring from a transport company when he chanced upon an opportunity to be a cultural ambassador of sorts. The 62-year-old has been helping to promote Japanese culture and language abroad in his own way, as part of an outreach by Japan to Asean launched in 2013.