Author: Amitav Acharya, American University

ASEAN Centrality is a relatively new concept. It was not mentioned in ASEAN’s founding Bangkok Declaration of 1967. Nor was it mentioned in in ASEAN’s 1976 documents — the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation or Declaration of ASEAN Concord — which set out the terms of relationships among ASEAN members and between ASEAN and outside powers.