The economic architecture in East Asia and across the Pacific is rich and overlapping and has been built up over decades. Habits of co-operation and consensus building have been entrenched across the region, but they are now challenged by geopolitical distrust and US-Chinese strategic competition.

At the core of regional architecture is ASEAN. The new Australian government has refocused on the intersection of our interests with those of ASEAN. But the “ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific”, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and other South-East Asian initiatives are not yet integrated in a way that helps manage the broader fractures in global politics and governance.