Four ASEAN countries — Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand — have broken rank from past trends and applied for BRICS membership. Global discussions about the motives behind these decisions fall into two camps — those that are concerned and those that are not.
The concerned believe that increased interest in BRICS within ASEAN signals waning support for the Western-led international order and growing traction for a China-led alternative. The unconcerned see this alignment as typical ASEAN hedging…