ASEAN will never be a reputable organization as long as it tries to please everyone. Such efforts represent “lukewarm commitments to international law and order”—neither cold nor hot—which purposefully advance nothing to avoid angering any sides.

In the end, ASEAN’s timidity leads to one of two possible ends: continued warfare, tensions and the absence of a lasting peace or worse, the achievement of peace through war where military might always makes right.

—YOUK CHHANG

Director, Documentation Center of Cambodia

Photos and Ref.: ‘Our friends must not misunderstand this’: Anwar rejects claims of meddling in Thailand-Cambodia border dispute (CNA: November 23, 2025) KHMER TIMES: Senate President Hun Sen last week blasted Special Rapporteur Vitit Muntarbhorn’s silence on the 18 detained Cambodian soldiers

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501794888/senate-president-hun-sen-last-week-blasted-special-rapporteur-vitit-muntarbhorns-silence-on-the-18-detained-cambodian-soldiers/