More than half of opinion makers in Southeast Asia believe will “do the right thing” to improve the world, according to the latest research published by the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
The annual survey compiles answers from — Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, and Brunei. For the first time this year, it also includes Timor-Leste.
The institute quizzed more than 2,000 people over who they believe are “in a position to inform or influence policy” in the Southeast Asian region. This includes members of the academia, think tanks and researchers, government officials, private sector representatives, civil society and NGO activists, media workers, and members of international organizations.
The researchers conducted the survey for several weeks in January and February this year, both before and after Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington.
Among other questions, they asked if participants believed the EU would “do the right thing” and “contribute to global peace, security, prosperity, and governance.”
Last year , which some experts attributed to Brussels’ support for Israel in Gaza. But the latest ISEAS-Yusof report shows the EU has recovered and surpassed its previous standing.
“The levels of trust in the EU saw a significant improvement this year, rising from 41.5% in 2024 to 51.9% this year for ASEAN-10 respondents,” the authors noted in the 2025 survey.
EU still top ‘middle power’
Somewhat surprisingly, fewer participants picked the EU as their preferred “middle power” in between and — only 36.3% compared to 37.2% last year. This still puts the EU at the top, but its nearest rivals — Japan and India — both saw significant jumps. Japan is now the “middle power” pick for 29.6% of the participants.
“One of my takeaways is that the European Union retained its top spot as the preferred ASEAN partner to hedge the great power rivalry between China and the United States,” Sujiro Seam, the EU ambassador to ASEAN, said in a video he released this week.
Brussels also saw improvements in its trustworthiness as a defender of free trade and regional security.
Chris Humphrey, executive director of the EU-ASEAN Business Council, told DW that the survey results this year are “definitely better news for the EU” following .
“The positive movement in sentiments could be driven by a number of factors, but certainly the moves in Brussels to soften the tone on the Green Deal and to simplify some of the reporting requirements and delay the introduction of the Deforestation Directive has been welcomed by many across the region,” he added.
Who can maintain ‘rules-based order’?
When asked about the ability to “provide leadership to maintain the rules-based order and uphold international law,” some 19.3% picked the EU in 2025 — a notable improvement from 16% last year. Even so, the EU is trailing behind the US with 26.5% and the ASEAN itself with 23.1% of support.
At the same time, it handsomely beats China, which only garnered 11.2% of votes. It is also worth noting that the survey was completed before .
Hunter Marston, a Southeast Asia researcher at the Australian National University, told DW that higher confidence in the EU “is likely related to increased uncertainty with regard to US politics following the election” of President Trump.
Although half of the poll respondents expressed their opinions before Trump’s inauguration, some 47% said that the Trump administration was a geopolitical concern for their countries.
Brussels pushed forward on free trade
Rahul Mishra, a senior research fellow at the German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance at Thailand’s Thammasat University, told DW that the uptick in positivity is also a result of the diplomatic steps that the EU has taken to improve its image.
The EU is close to finalizing and . In January, Brussels and Malaysia agreed to restart trade talks, while talks with the Philippines resumed last year.
However, it wasn’t all good news for Europe, especially in the field of soft power.
The Southeast Asian respondents were asked which country they would prefer to live and work in. As a regional average, less than 10% named an EU state, making it significantly less attractive than the US and Japan, but also Australia and New Zealand.
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru
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