{"id":729245,"date":"2026-08-06T10:32:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/729245\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T10:32:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:32:50","slug":"why-the-uk-is-doubling-down-on-asean-ties-amid-european-reset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/729245\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the UK is doubling down on Asean ties amid European reset"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Britain\u2019s new Labour government is trying to reassure Southeast Asia that its push to rebuild ties with Europe will not come at the region\u2019s expense, analysts have said, after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband made an <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/asean?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Asean<\/a> meeting in Manila his first overseas stop.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Appointed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham on July 20, Miliband attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers\u2019 Meeting about 48 hours after taking office \u2013 a choice observers said pointed less to a policy reset than to continuity in Britain\u2019s post-Brexit engagement with the bloc.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Analysts said the visit also highlighted why Asean had become more important to London: trade and supply-chain links after Brexit, maritime and regional security, and a shared interest among middle powers in keeping diplomatic space open amid intensifying great-power pressure.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The Manila gathering also marked five years since the United Kingdom became a full dialogue partner of the bloc.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cI felt it was very, very important to come straight to the Asean Foreign Ministers\u2019 Meeting as a sign of solidarity with Asean countries and of the importance we attach to this partnership,\u201d Miliband said in remarks before the bloc\u2019s foreign ministers.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">He stressed his country\u2019s \u201ccommitment to Asean and commitment for the long term\u201d, which he said remained \u201cjust as strong for the UK\u2019s new prime minister as it did for our previous prime minister and for me personally\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"British Foreign Minister Ed Miliband speaks during the Asean Post-Ministerial Conference with the United Kingdom in Metro Manila on July 22. Photo: Pool via Reuters\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/7b4dabdd-e3f0-4095-b471-adc8709afb8c_79963051.jpg\" title=\"British Foreign Minister Ed Miliband speaks during the Asean Post-Ministerial Conference with the United Kingdom in Metro Manila on July 22. Photo: Pool via Reuters\"\/>British Foreign Minister Ed Miliband speaks during the Asean Post-Ministerial Conference with the United Kingdom in Metro Manila on July 22. Photo: Pool via Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s new Labour government is trying to reassure Southeast Asia that its push to rebuild ties with Europe&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19306,26037,241165,241166,934,2307,241167,891,9610,591,59,57,58,158888,241168,50,17271,56,157,54,55],"class_list":["post-729245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-andy-burnham","tag-asean","tag-aston-university","tag-bill-hayton","tag-brexit","tag-britain","tag-chatham-house","tag-china","tag-ed-miliband","tag-europe","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-indo-pacific","tag-manila","tag-news","tag-southeast-asia","tag-uk","tag-ukraine","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}