Chronologies

US - Southeast Asia

Chronology from May 2024 to Dec 2024


: Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is acquitted by the Constitutional Court of charges of having improperly influenced the Pheu Thai Party. 

: Indonesia signs an agreement with China to jointly develop maritime resources near the Natuna Islands. 

: Indonesia and Russia hold their first-ever joint naval exercises in the Java Sea off Surabaya.

: Prabowo Subianto is sworn in as Indonesia’s eighth president. Gibran Rakabuming Raka, son of outgoing president Joko Widodo, is sworn in as vice president.

: United States and the Philippines hold the 8th iteration of the Sama Sama Exercise, which also include Australia, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Japan. The United States deploys the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Howard.

: ASEAN conducts a series of major meetings with Laos as the 2024 chair. These included the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting; the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits; and at the East Asia Summit. At the ASEAN Summits for the first time since the 2021 coup Myanmar is invited to send a representative from the career ranks of the Foreign Ministry. Permanent Secretary Aung Kyaw Moe attends but does not speak at the Summits. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken represents the United States at the East Asia Summit.

: Chinese vessels block Philippine patrol boats attempting a resupply mission on Sabina Shoal in the Philippines EEZ.

: Tom Sullivan, Senior Advisor to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Michael Schiffer, Assistant Administrator of USAID, meet with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government and allied ethnic groups to discuss US non-lethal assistance.

: Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra is elected prime minister by a two-thirds majority of parliament. 

: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits Myanmar and meets with junta leader Ming Aung Hlaing and Foreign Minister U Than Swe.

: Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavasin is dismissed from his position as prime minister by the Thai Constitutional Court for having appointed an official with a criminal conviction to his cabinet.

: Thailand’s Constitutional Court dissolves the Move Forward Party and bans 11 of its senior party leaders, including Pita Limjaroenrat, from politics for 10 years. The banishments effectively decapitated Move Forward, although 143 Members of Parliament remain in the legislature.

: Forces of the resistance in Myanmar—the People’s Defense Force and allied armed ethnic groups—take the city of Lashio in northern Shan State, marking the first time that the opposition has captured a regional military command. 

: United States and the Philippines conducts the fourth 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue on foreign affairs and defense in Manila.

: Following talks between Beijing and Manila to forge an informal agreement on conduct around Second Thomas Shoal, the Philippine Navy launches a resupply mission to resupply the Sierra Madre, without interference. 

: Vietnamese President Tô Lâm becomes Acting Vietnamese Communist Party secretary-general upon the death of his predecessor, Nguyen Phu Trong. On Aug. 4 is confirmed as the Permanent Secretary-General by the Party’s Central Committee.

: Indonesian leaders of the Jemah Islamiyah, Southeast Asia’s regional terrorism network, announces they are dissolving the group. Although the JI itself may disappear, the possibility for splinter groups could increase.

: 400;">: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited Cambodia, on the heels of the Shangri-la Security Dialogue in Singapore. He met with Prime Minister Hun Manet, Senate President Hun Sen, and Defense Minister Tea Seiha. 

: IISS Shangri-la Dialogue is convened in Singapore, with Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., presenting the keynote speech. Marcos slams China for its actions around Second Thomas Shoal.

: Reports say Undersecretary of the Treasury Brian Johnson will express concern that Iran is using Malaysian companies to sidestep sanctions and transship oil to Singapore, and that Hamas is raising funds through Malaysian channels. Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail meets with Johnson and says that Malaysia will not recognize international sanctions in this issue area.

Date Range