The annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) and the related ASEAN-plus meetings—a series of ASEAN-led forums involving foreign ministers from 27 nations across the Indo-Pacific—were held from August 2-8, 2017 in Manila, the capital of Philippines which holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-member grouping. This year’s meetings marked the grouping’s 50th anniversary. They are the latest manifestation of and endorsement for the norm-based concentric multilateralism: the forums are centered on the smaller states in Southeast Asia, conducted in accord with the “ASEAN Way,” with growing participation by big powers and key players beyond the region in four evolving concentric layers since the 1990s, i.e. the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conferences 10+1 sessions with each of the bloc’s 10 dialogue partners, the ASEAN Plus Three (10+3 Northeast Asian nations), the East Asia Summit (10+8), and the ASEAN Regional Forum (10+17). These ministerial forums, alongside those at the summit and working levels, serve as the indispensable platforms where non-coercive strategic behavior like hedging takes place, as evidenced by the meetings’ outcomes and recent developments across the region, discussed below.

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