Embassy of the United States Singapore

'Asean is, in some respects, a victim of its own success,' says Mr Lavin. 'It has enjoyed success - at the political level, and economically. So let's give Asean credit for what it has accomplished.

'But I say it's a victim of its success in the sense that once you fix what you fix, what remains is that much more difficult to do. So, to get more coordination on political and economic issues is going to be a challenge.

'I think Singapore has the right approach in saying, look, let's be creatively opportunistic; if somebody is willing to move ahead, let's try to move ahead; and if somebody's isn't willing to move ahead, all right, we respect that.

'So there's going to be scope for initiatives to move ahead, but increasingly within sub-groupings and decreasingly one-size-fits-all.'

The expansion of Asean to include the less-developed nations - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam - is another reflection of the group being a victim of its success, according to Mr Lavin.

'When Asean went from six to 10, you could have asked, is that the right call or not? Because the six have a higher degree of homogeneity on economic status, it was easier to work together, and you could get a six-way agreement. But with 10 members, you say, my gosh, look at our socio-economic bell curve, look at the political differences - that's the negative part.'

'But still I think it was the right call. For example, look at the changes in Vietnam. I think Asean has helped enormously in familiarising, consensus-building, creating a comfort level for change. A series of bilateral discussions - even with the United States and Japan - would not have been as effective.'

So given all these complications, what - if any - are the prospects of a US-Asean Free Trade agreement, and how will the US work with the group?

'We proposed, at the Apec summit in Mexico, the Enterprise for Asean initiative,' says Mr Lavin.

'We said we're launching a free trade agreement with Singapore and we welcome any Asean member to participate.

'Getting Singapore and Thailand on board (the US and Thailand are in the process of negotiating a trade agreement) was not a bad start, because those two countries account for about 50 per cent of US trade with Asean. The US-Australian FTA would be one more signal to Asean, which would say, look, you can comfortably be part of this too.

'We've always taken a practical approach to the tactics of free trade. We know that every ship is going to move at a different speed, so let's not try to set up a convoy where we all have to move together.

'Our approach is this: if you have the ability to work with us, we welcome it. If you don't have the ability to work with us, we welcome your decision. But if you don't have the appetite to move ahead at a particular time, don't take umbrage if somebody else does have the appetite.

'We respect your desire to set your policies, but you must respect our desire to set ours.'