Flawed Assumptions: Why the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific is Defective analysis by Evan A. Laksmana, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta 2019-09-19 Same old handshake, same old institutions: Foreign ministers including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (4th from left) and China’s Wang Yi (far right) demonstrate ASEAN centrality (Credit: ASEAN Secretariat) The June 23 decision by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to adopt the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) represents a call to strengthen existing ASEAN-led mechanisms – from the East Asia Summit (EAS) to the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+) – as “platforms for dialogue and implementation of the Indo- Pacific cooperation”. It also seeks to boost pre-existing ASEAN programs, primarily under political security, economic, and socio-cultural community building, as well as other areas of cooperation, including maritime safety and security, regional connectivity, and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Indonesia has been driving the AOIP since tabling the initial draft early last year. The motivating concern was the return of great power politics that is dividing the Indo-Pacific into competing strategic camps, diluting ASEAN’s