Kuala Lampur, April 27 -- When Asean and EU foreign ministers meet for the 25th Asean-EU Ministerial Meeting in Brunei this week, the significance is in the international moment in which it is taking place. 

For many years, relations between South-east Asia and Europe were stable, cordial, and useful, yet rarely urgent. Today, that is no longer the case.

From a South-east Asian perspective, the EU has often been viewed through a familiar and somewhat narrow lens. Europe was seen as an important trade partner, a source of investment, scholarships, climate financing, development assistance, governance programmes, and support for democratic institutions. It was present in the region, but often in functional rather than strategic terms...