When President Joe Biden and his White House welcome Southeast Asian leaders on May 12 for the start of a two-day US-ASEAN Summit, it is worth noting that they will be commemorating a 45th anniversary of this relationship, one that validates the administration's Indo-Pacific Strategy as well as charting the future direction of the US with ASEAN's 10 member states. If one of the goals of hosting this organization comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam is to secure their participation in a multi-partner Indo-Pacific Pax Americana or“rules-based international order” to curb China's rising power in the disputed South China Sea, then what better timing for the US to join the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)?

Borton, J. (2022, April 28). US-ASEAN Summit opens up UNCLOS ratification issue. Daily Guardian, p. 7.