Endy Bayuni

Authoritarian regimes and dictators around the world must feel vindicated by the just concluded presidential race in the United States, the one-time champion of liberal democracy that had the habit of exporting, if not imposing, its political system and the accompanying values to the rest of the world.

ASEAN needed to show a semblance of unity more than ever now, and their common statement on the South China Sea raises some hopes that the group can still pull off an important stunt like this at a time when most observers had given up hope.