On 1 May 2023, H.E. Dr. CHEUNBORAN Chanborey, Ambassador of Cambodia to Australia, attended as a panellist at the Southeast Asia Regional Geopolitical Update organized by the ANU Southeast Asia Institute.
Ambassador Chanborey stressed that development and security are increasingly intertwined as global politics is getting more tense and confrontational. In this context, ASEAN and its member states have consistently resisted the temptation that regional issues shall be reduced to contest between major powers in a zero-sum game. It is in the interest of all to maintain and promote ASEAN Centrality by strengthening its unity internally, exercising neutrality and fairness externally, and being proactive in building an open, inclusive, rules-based regional architecture. More, ASEAN has attempted to de-securitize regional issues, vividly illustrated by the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP).
He argued that Cambodia has always subscribed to the above-mentioned premise by adopting a principled approach based on (1) economic pragmatism, (2) independent foreign policy, (3) commitment to rules-based regional and international order.
