After 14 years of ceaseless efforts, Timor-Leste, one of the youngest democracies in the region, became the 11th ASEAN member on October 26, 2025. “For the people of Timor-Leste, this is not only a dream realised, but a powerful affirmation of our journey – one marked by resilience, determination and hope,” said Xanana Gusmao, the current Prime Minister of Timor-Leste. This journey has not been easy. Timor-Leste began its journey towards ASEAN membership by formally applying in 2011, demonstrating its intent to become fully integrated into the regional bloc. In 2022, ASEAN leaders agreed in principle to Timor-Leste's admission, granting the country observer status, which enabled it to attend all ASEAN meetings and all summits. In 2023, ASEAN adopted a dedicated roadmap to guide Timor-Leste's preparations for membership. Timor-Leste's accession culminated in 2025, when it was officially admitted to ASEAN during the 47th ASEAN Summit. The president, Jose Ramos Horta, noted this multi-phased and long process of accessing ASEAN: “It seems like the road to heaven —to reach the perfection of heaven— is easier than to reach the gates of ASEAN.”

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Despite the laudable achievements and benefits of investment and trade opportunities from ASEAN’s 680 million people and $3.8 trillion economy, some concerns about institutional weaknesses, challenges to vulnerable sectors and people, and human security risks, highlighted by accessing the bloc, remain unresolved. Furthermore, Timor-Leste joined ASEAN during a time of uncertainty, such as democratic backslide and power struggle, which may test a bloc composed of diverse political ideologies with its persistence on human rights and democracy. While some analysts argue that Timor-Leste acceded to ASEAN out of geopolitical and geoeconomic calculations, this article claims that Timor-Leste's joining ASEAN is more a deliberate move to collective and sustainable peacebuilding rather than a national survival strategy. Timor-Leste joined ASEAN to prevent conflict and violence, as well as to transform existing structures, relationships, and identities through economic integration and security cooperation to create long-term, sustainable peace in the region and beyond.

ASEAN’s economic integration, represented by the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), helps facilitate the emergence of a free market and free movement of goods, services, investments, and skilled labor, paving the way to eliminate structural violence and inequalities within the bloc. Through expanded free trade, investment flows, and regional development initiatives, integration improves living standards and reduces poverty, fostering a more just and stable society. In addition, ASEAN membership allows Timor-Leste to access some free trade markets, such as the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest free trade agreement, encompassing approximately 28 percent of the global GDP. Deepening economic cooperation and interdependence among member states also decreases the likelihood of war and conflict, encouraging repeated cooperation and lasting peace.

For Timor-Leste, participating in the ASEAN market offers opportunities to increase employment, boost exports of local products such as coffee, tourism, and fisheries, and attract essential foreign investment. Accession to the ASEAN economy offers Timor-Leste critical pathways to address some of its most persistent........

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