Kuala Lampur, Dec. 29 -- As Asean moves beyond 2025 into a far more demanding regional and global environment, one reality stands out with increasing clarity: the association's ability to remain relevant, credible, and effective will depend heavily on how its top six Comprehensive Strategic Partners (CSPs) choose to behave.

These partners-Australia, China, India, Japan, United States, and South Korea-are not merely symbolic partners.

They are the actors with the economic scale, technological depth, diplomatic reach, and security capabilities that can either lift Asean higher or hollow it out from within. CSP status, therefore, cannot be treated as a diplomatic ornament. It carries expectations of responsibility.

Asean has done its part...