ASEAN Leaders Give ‘In-Principle’ Support for Timor-Leste’s Membership. What Does This Actually Mean?

(L-R) Philippines' President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand's Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, US President Joe Biden and Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen wave as they pose for pictures during the ASEAN-US summit as part of the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Nov. 12, 2022. TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP via Getty Images

On Friday, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s member states provided a statement announcing “in-principle” support for Timor-Leste to be admitted as its 11th member. So does this mean Timor-Leste’s long wait to become a member of ASEAN is finally over? The short answer is not quite.

It is a positive development that all 10 ASEAN states - Cambodia (current ASEAN chair), Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, Laos and Vietnam - appear to have agreed to the move. However, the statement was unclear about when and how Timor-Leste would achieve full membership.