Bad blood: Taylor Swift tour just the start of disputes in South-East Asia

The Association of South-East Asian Nations may not have a parliament or constitute a common market like the European Union, but it does have an official anthem.

The ASEAN Way takes its name from the distinctly South-East Asian style of diplomacy that characterises the forum: a dialogue-heavy, consensus-driven approach that seeks to avoid confrontation and interference in each other’s affairs.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has strained relations between national neighbours in South-East Asia.Credit: Getty Images

Since its founding 56 years ago, the 10-nation grouping has helped promote peace, stability and economic integration in a region marked by religious, political and ethnic differences. Some of the member nations are democracies and others are autocracies; some are Muslim-majority while others are dominated by Christians or Buddhists.

Yet the forum has become an entrenched feature of the regional diplomatic architecture, with leaders ritualistically stressing the “centrality” of ASEAN in resolving regional issues and engaging with the rest of the world. (Australia is not a member of ASEAN but became the forum’s first dialogue partner 50 years ago).

However, for all the effort to foster cooperation and stifle disagreement, disputes inevitably flare up among the member states – including, of all things, about Taylor Swift.

As ASEAN leaders arrive in Melbourne for a summit hosted by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Singapore’s status as the only South-East Asian nation to score concert dates on Swift’s Eras tour is testing goodwill among them. Swift is playing six shows at Singapore’s 55,000-seat National Stadium, meaning Swifties across the region have needed to travel overseas or miss out.

Protesters from Mynamar and Cambodia outside the ASEAN summit in Melbourne on Monday.Credit: Justin McManus

Although the details have not been confirmed, Singapore reportedly offered Swift up to $3 million for each show performed in Singapore in exchange for not performing elsewhere in South-East Asia during the tour.

“If she came to Thailand, it would have been cheaper to organise it here, and I believe she would be able to attract more sponsors and tourists to Thailand,” Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said at a conference last month.

“Even though we would have to subsidise at least 500 million baht ($21.4 million) it would be worth it,” Srettha said.

While Srettha called Singapore “clever” for brokering the deal, Philippine politician Joey Salceda was far more critical, saying that stitching up such a deal “isn’t what good neighbours do”.

Calling on the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs to demand answers from Singapore about the deal, Salceda said in a statement that the exclusivity arrangement “runs contrary to the principle of consensus-based relations and solidarity on which the ASEAN was founded”.

While the bad blood provoked by the Swift stoush will probably blow over after the megastar’s final Singapore show on March 9, deeper disputes will remain between the member states. South-East Asia sits at the epicentre of competition between the world’s two superpowers – the United States and China – for influence, and the ASEAN nations are divided about how to respond to it.

Under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jnr, the Philippines has moved closer to the US by opening four new US military bases and calling out China for seeking to dominate the South China Sea.

In a forceful speech to the Australian parliament last week, Marcos said that the Philippines would not surrender a square inch of territory to a foreign power, alluding to increasingly tense clashes between Chinese and Philippine maritime forces.

By contrast, other ASEAN nations such as Cambodia and Laos are so close to China that they are regularly labelled “vassal states” of Beijing. Singapore and Malaysia proudly hedge their bets between the two superpowers, rejecting any entreaties for them to pick a side.

These divides limit ASEAN’s ability to establish limits on China’s aggressive approach to the South China Sea. Similarly, ASEAN has been unable to halt a civil war in Myanmar and prevent human rights committed by the military junta there. Myanmar regime chief Min Aung Hlaing has not been invited to the summit in Melbourne, meaning he will be the only leader of a member nation not to attend.

Rather than craft a sweeping official communiqué, Albanese’s priority is to raise the local profile of, and deepen engagement with, a region that does not receive the attention it deserves – especially from business. “Australian investment in the region is underweight, and growth in foreign direct investment has stagnated in the past decade,” former Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore wrote in a major government report released last year.

The ASEAN summit may not be as captivating as a Taylor Swift concert spectacular. But after coming under fire last year for too much international travel, hosting some of the world’s most influential leaders in Melbourne offers Albanese an opportunity to expand Australia’s international clout without leaving the country.

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