The members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) engaged with each other and their five major neighbors in the Asia-Pacific region, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, to develop the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a comprehensive free trade agreement streamlining all previous agreements among the participating countries. This article applied the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) method in assessing the RCEP and the key role played by the ASEAN in the negotiation process through middle-power diplomacy. The RCEP’s strengths in economic integration and weaknesses in certain policy areas encapsulate ASEAN centrality and its strategy of hedging on China, the sole great power in the agreement. The opportunities and threats to the RCEP posed by the increasing geopolitical tensions between China and the US amid the COVID-19 pandemic, meanwhile, demonstrate the complex regional and global geopolitical situation that ASEAN should navigate to ensure the success of the RCEP and maintain centrality in the process.

This research purposely conducts to identify Malaysian role in port bilateral diplomacy in ASEAN. Malaysia known as role leader in ASEAN and commit with excellence, drive the country among ASEAN since 1969. The research included Malaysia role within maritime working group where this forum or organization discuss and negotiate any issue related maritime sector in ASEAN. The research also highlights in Port Enhancement and Malaysia Port Strategic whereas Port Development in Malaysia that contribute to Port Bilateral, Port Alliance and Port in ASEAN. The objective includes i) to identify the issues and challenges in bilateral diplomacy in port shipping, ii) to identify Malaysian marine department role toward integrating ASEAN Maritime Working Group, iii) to find out Malaysian initiative for enhancement Malaysian Port Development through ASEAN port alliances, iv) to formulate Malaysia Port Strategic Plan toward the development of national port ASEAN port Alliances. For the literature review in this research is refer to five keywords which is Port Alliances, maritime working group, Malaysia contribution, Malaysia Port Development and Port Strategic Plan. This research is using qualitative method that refer to previous research, article, and journal. The collecting data consist of text transcribe form interview session into verbal and text written. There are selected organization such as Ministry of Transport and Port Authority. The interview process through online using Webex. The coding process take afterward for analysis and conclusion data. The theory formulation of relation diplomacy for this research is propose the objective to formulate Malaysia port strategic plan toward the development of national port ASEAN. Finally, the finding of this research that Malaysia plays significant role in port operation through ASEAN regional. The ministry of Transport plays as policy maker and drive the actor form Malaysia Marine Department and Port Authority in operation and regulatory. The recommendation is to increase the effectiveness of communication and enhance the efficiency of relation toward port bilateral.

Since 1990s, despite the strong opposition of the international community, North Korea has frequently conducted nuclear weapons tests and missile tests, and the DPRK nuclear issue has become an important factor affecting the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific region. As an extremely important multilateral organization in the Asia-Pacific region, ASEAN has gradually increased its influence in the Asia-Pacific region with the advancement of integration in recent years. In order to further enhance its influence and enhance its participation in Asia-Pacific affairs, ASEAN has been trying to give its voice on the Korean nuclear issue. The ASEAN Regional Forum and ASEAN Summit are the most important platforms for ASEAN to express its position and views. Since the North Korean nuclear issue became prominent, the North Korean nuclear issue has been a key topic discussed in the ASEAN Regional Forum and ASEAN Summit. Judging from the conference documents produced by the conferences over the years, ASEAN's attitude towards the Korean nuclear issue is still being fine-tuned. Although the international community has repeatedly issued policies to condemn North Korea and impose economic sanctions, ASEAN is generally neutral and conservative in its attitude towards the DPRK nuclear issue, and it is also very cautious in its actions. Recently, with China and Russia following the United States, they began to impose severe economic sanctions on North Korea, and their words changed to severe condemnation, and ASEAN's attitude towards North Korea also changed subtly. To some extent, the changes of the Korean nuclear issue in ASEAN reflect the constant fine-tuning of ASEAN's foreign policy. This paper aims to find out the fine-tuning of ASEAN's foreign policy and its influence on ASEAN by combing the changes of ASEAN's Korean nuclear issue and the potential reasons behind the changes.