Cambodia will try to rebalance its partnerships

Significance

Cambodia, chairing ASEAN this year, is attempting to further the bloc’s five-point plan for easing Myanmar’s post-coup tensions. Separately, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Phnom Penh on March 20-21. Days earlier, several politicians received lengthy jail sentences in yet another crackdown by the authorities on the opposition.

Impacts

• Divisions within ASEAN over the Myanmar situation and the Ukraine war will widen, undermining the bloc.
• US-ASEAN relations are unlikely to get a major boost from the special summit between the sides in Washington, whenever it takes place.
• Tokyo will try to make security a key focus of its relations with Phnom Penh.