Building ASEAN Resilience Through British Partnership
For Britain, achieving dialogue partner status with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was prominently touted in the Integrated Review Refresh 2023 as evidence of delivering on the Indo-Pacific tilt. The UK's launch of the £30 million ASEAN-UK Health Security Partnership in Kuala Lumpur this July, alongside the remarkable 95% implementation rate of existing cooperation programmes reported at April's Da Nang Senior Officials' Meeting, demonstrates growing momentum in UK-ASEAN relations. Although the 2025 Strategic Defence Review made little mention of ASEAN or indeed the tilt, membership of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+) is next on London’s to-do list. As Southeast Asia navigates an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape—balancing relationships with multiple major powers while addressing urgent resilience challenges—Britain has an opportunity to carve out a distinctive role that complements rather than competes with existing regional partnerships. This would help to advance the goals set out in the 2021 Integrated Review for Britain to be the European power with the ‘broadest and most integrated presence in the Indo-Pacific’.
ASEAN's Multi-Alignment Strategy
ASEAN's strategic approach has always centred on maintaining productive relationships with all major powers. China remains the region's largest trading partner, the United States provides security guarantees, Japan leads in development finance and infrastructure projects with a growing defence and security role, while the EU offers regulatory frameworks and market access. Within this context, ASEAN nations seek to diversify their partnerships not as a zero-sum game, but to maximise options and build comprehensive resilience.
The region faces compound challenges that no single partner can address. Climate change threatens regional security and critical infrastructure, from Jakarta's sinking streets to Vietnam's salinating deltas. Supply chain vulnerabilities exposed during COVID-19 persist amid semiconductor shortages and trade tensions alongside simmering territorial disputes. Water stress and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing compounds food security concerns, while rapid digitalisation creates new cyber vulnerabilities. These interconnected challenges demand diverse expertise and collaborative solutions.
This creates space for Britain to offer distinctive value. Rather than viewing regional engagement through a competitive lens, the UK should position itself as the partner of choice for building institutional capacity and transferring cutting-edge expertise in resilience technologies.
Britain's Complementary Capabilities
The UK brings particular strengths that complement existing regional partnerships. British expertise in water management and climate adaptation, developed through decades of managing flood risks and water scarcity, offers practical solutions for Southeast Asian challenges. The City of London's evolution into the global centre for green finance provides mechanisms to fund resilience infrastructure without unsustainable debt burdens.
The new Health Security Partnership exemplifies this complementary approach. By focusing on institutional twinning and knowledge exchange rather than standalone infrastructure projects, it builds lasting capacity within ASEAN health systems. This model—emphasising expertise transfer and collaborative research—should extend across other sectors.
Critical minerals present another opportunity for complementary engagement. As ASEAN nations seek to move up value chains from raw material extraction to processing and manufacturing, British expertise in sustainable mining practices and emerging processing technologies offers pathways to capture more value while maintaining environmental standards. The UK's Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre could partner with Indonesian and Philippine institutions to develop regional capabilities.
A Partnership Framework for Resilience
Britain should propose a comprehensive "ASEAN-UK Resilience Compact" built on three pillars that address regional priorities while leveraging British strengths:
First, establish Regional Resilience Innovation Centres as genuine partnerships between British and ASEAN institutions. Unlike traditional technical assistance, these centres would feature rotating leadership, shared governance, and collaborative research agendas. They would focus on developing solutions adapted to Southeast Asian contexts rather than importing one-size-fits-all approaches.
Second, create innovative financing mechanisms that build fiscal resilience. A UK equivalent to Australia’s £2 billion ASEAN investment facility could pioneer instruments like catastrophe bonds and parametric insurance that automatically provide funds when climate thresholds are breached. These mechanisms, proven in Caribbean and Pacific contexts, could help ASEAN nations manage climate risks without accumulating unsustainable debt.
Third, prioritise technology and knowledge transfer in all partnerships. When British firms engage in infrastructure or resource projects, contracts should include specific provisions for capability building, training local professionals, and sharing expertise. This transforms commercial relationships into self-sustaining capacity-building partnerships that create lasting value.
Strategic Benefits for All Partners
This approach offers multiple benefits for ASEAN nations on a win-win basis. It provides access to cutting-edge expertise and technology while building local capacity to address long-term challenges. It creates additional options for financing resilience infrastructure through innovative mechanisms. Most importantly, it strengthens ASEAN's ability to manage regional challenges collectively, enhancing the organisation's centrality in regional architecture.
For Britain, deep engagement with ASEAN's resilience challenges positions UK firms advantageously in one of the world's fastest-growing regions. As Southeast Asian economies expand and urbanise, demand for British expertise in sustainable urban development, climate adaptation, and financial innovation will grow exponentially. Early partnership building creates lasting commercial relationships while contributing to regional stability that benefits global trade. Britain can also leverage its convening power to bring on board like-minded partners such as Japan which has promoted its own Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) through extensive climate assistance to ASEAN states.
This approach also strengthens Britain's diplomatic position and advances its “force for good” agenda as part of the Indo-Pacific tilt. By focusing on co-creating solutions to shared problems, capacity building and resilience, the UK demonstrates commitment to ASEAN's development priorities rather than pursuing narrow, selfish commercial interests. This builds trust essential in a region with complex post-colonial legacies, thereby supporting a foundation for future cooperation on trade agreements and regional security arrangements.
As global dynamics shift and climate impacts intensify, ASEAN's need for diverse, capable partners who can offer solutions will only grow. Britain possesses unique capabilities in resilience technologies, financial innovation, and institutional development that align with regional priorities. By offering genuine capacity-building partnerships that complement existing relationships, the UK can secure lasting influence and commercial opportunities. The opportunity exists—it remains to be seized.
Noah J. Wescombe, Head of Policy at ALLFED
Dr Yee Kuang Heng, Professor at University of Tokyo
Cover Image Courtesy of PICRYL & Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/