The 1976 Bali Summit: ASEAN shifts gears

• Main Author: Desker, Barry
• Other Authors: T. Koh
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: World Scientific Publishing 2022
• Subjects: Social sciences::Political science::International relations; Social sciences::Political science::Political institutions::Asia; ASEAN; Bali Summit
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/156877; https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/9789813225138_0002
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The first ASEAN Summit (or ASEAN Heads of Government Meeting as it was initially called) was held in Bali, Indonesia, on 23–24 February 1976. This Summit led to the transformation of ASEAN and the decisions taken by the Summit have set a benchmark in ASEAN’s evolution. A discussion of the decision to hold the Summit and its outcomes requires an appreciation of the genesis for the establishment of ASEAN in 1967, a recognition of the challenges faced by ASEAN in its formative years and the climate of uncertainty in the region following the emergence of communist regimes in Indochina in 1975, and an awareness that bilateral relationships among ASEAN Member States (AMS) at that time were uneasy and characterised by mutual suspicions.