East Timor joins ASEAN in bloc's first expansion since the 1990s

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations welcomed East Timor as its newest member Sunday, which its prime minister said was a “dream realized” for the tiny nation. Meanwhile, Cambodia and Thailand signed an agreement expanding a ceasefire on their borders with the hope it will lead to a lasting peace.

“Today, history is made,” Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao told the other leaders as the flag of East Timor, also known as Timor Leste, was added to the other 10 on the stage at a formal ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.

It was ASEAN's first expansion since the 1990s and was more than a decade in the making.

“For the people of Timor Leste this is not only a dream realized, but a powerful affirmation of our journey — one marked by resilience, determination and hope,” he said.

The ceremony marked the opening of ASEAN's annual summit, followed by two days of high-level engagements with key partners including China, Japan, India, Australia, Russia, South Korea and the U.S.

Shortly after his arrival Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump took part as Cambodia and Thailand signed a formal expansion of the ceasefire that he helped broker this summer to end their border conflict.

“There was a lot of killing. And then we got it stopped, very quickly,” Trump said before Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul signed the agreement.

The terms of the agreement include Thailand releasing 18 Cambodian soldiers held prisoner and for both sides to begin removing heavy weapons from the border area.

There were few details in the agreement on how it would be carried out, though it said the leaders agreed to establish an observer team made up of ASEAN member states “with the objective of ensuring the full and effective implementation.”

Both Cambodian and Thai leaders called the agreement a “joint declaration” on the ceasefire, while Trump dubbed it the “Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords”

“This declaration, if fully implemented, will provide the building blocks for lasting peace,” Anutin said. “But more importantly, it will begin the process of mending our ties.”

Hun Manet said that "today marks a historic moment of profound significance for Cambodia and Thailand — a day where we affirm our shared conviction that peace is always possible when nations have the courage and wisdom to pursue it together."

Trump said he had signed economic agreements with both of those nations, and later also concluded a deal with Malaysia.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Japan’s newly inaugurated Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi were among more than a dozen other leaders on hand.

East Timor's accession to ASEAN gives the country, which has just 1.4 million people and a GDP of around $2 billion, better access to an economic community of nations with some 680 million people and a $3.8 trillion economy.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose country holds the bloc's rotating chairmanship, said East Timor's accession “completes the ASEAN family, the affirming of our shared destiny and deep sense of regional kinship.”

He said ASEAN's goal was to “pursue growth that is both resilient and fair, and to safeguard the welfare of generations to come.”

The integration of the region’s youngest nation, and one of its poorest, demonstrates ASEAN's “inclusivity and adaptability, especially at a time of geopolitical flux,” said Angeline Tan, an analyst with Malaysia’s Institute of Strategic & International Studies:

"As protectionism is on the rise, the expansion of ASEAN demonstrates its commitment to regionalism, openness and equal participation,” she said.

The last country to join ASEAN was Cambodia in 1999.

East Timor, wedged between Indonesia and Australia, was a Portuguese colony for over four centuries before declaring independence in 1975.

Indonesia invaded nine days later, beginning a brutal 24-year occupation that claimed tens of thousands of lives through conflict, famine and disease. A U.N.-supervised referendum in 1999 paved the way for independence, which was formally restored in 2002.

Today it is led by two independence heroes — Prime Minister Gusmao and President Jose Ramos-Horta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.

They are trying to tackle high levels of unemployment, malnutrition and poverty. Some 42% of the country's population live below the national poverty line. Nearly two-thirds of its citizens are under 30 years old, making youth job creation a high priority.

Its major source of government revenues comes from the oil and gas industry, but with resources quickly becoming depleted it is looking to diversify.

Initially, the idea of bringing East Timor into ASEAN was met with skepticism by several other members, and even though that was overcome, Joanne Lin, co-coordinator of the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute’s ASEAN Studies Centre in Singapore, said adding the nation is “not without challenges.”

“Timor-Leste’s administrative and institutional capacity still lags behind most ASEAN members, and full participation will require sustained technical and financial support from the secretariat and member states,” she said. “But its inclusion also brings new energy and perspectives — especially on issues like youth empowerment, democratic governance and small-state diplomacy.”

For East Timor, ASEAN membership gives it access to the bloc’s free trade deals, investment opportunities and a broader regional market.

East Timor applied for membership in 2011 and was granted observer status in 2022.

“For us this new beginning brings immense opportunity in trade, investment, education and the digital economy — we are ready to learn, innovate and uphold good government,” Gusmao said.

“This is not the end of a journey, this is a beginning of an inspiring new chapter.”

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, left and Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul react as they switch country signs during a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, left, as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet watches during a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, left, and Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul pose with their documents during a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

From left, Laos' Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, East Timor's Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Philippines' President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Brunei's King Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Myanmar's Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs U Hau Khan Sum pose for a photo during the signing ceremony of the Declaration on the Admission of East Timor into ASEAN during the 47th ASEAN summit, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta, left, and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto greet each other during the 47th ASEAN summit opening ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Foreign ministers and economic ministers of ASEAN member countries pose for a group photo during the ASEAN Joint Foreign and Economic Ministers' Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Chuck Neinas, the onetime Big Eight commissioner whose media savvy and dealmaking helped turn college football into the multibillion-dollar business it is today, died Tuesday. He was 93.

The National Football Foundation announced Neinas' death, with its president and CEO Steve Hatchell calling him “a visionary in every sense of the word.” A cause of death was not disclosed.

From 1980-97, Neinas was executive director of the College Football Association, an agency created by several big conferences that sought to wrest control of their TV rights from the NCAA.

Two key members, Georgia and Oklahoma, sued the NCAA over TV, and a 1984 Supreme Court ruling in their favor effectively made the CFA a separate business from the rest of college sports. It gave Neinas a key seat at the negotiating table.

He brought home deals worth billions in the 1980s and ’90s, and those huge contracts set the stage for today’s industry, currently highlighted by a TV deal worth $7.8 billion for the College Football Playoff.

After the CFA disbanded in 1997 — with conferences taking their TV rights into their own hands and the Bowl Championship Series, the precursor to today’s playoff, about to start — Neinas founded a consulting firm that helped schools create policies and hire athletic directors and coaches.

He was CEO of Ascent Entertainment Group, which owned the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and their arena when they sold to Liberty Media Group in 2000.

But his passion was college sports. He served as interim commissioner of the Big 12 from 2011-12, solidifying that conference during one of many surges of realignment by adding TCU and West Virginia.

In a 2014 interview with The Associated Press, Neinas envisioned a future that looks much like today as he pondered lawsuits against the NCAA that would eventually lead to players being paid.

“There is a need for some changes,” Neinas said. “The auto industry is always trying to improve their model. College athletics should do the same. But the basics are still sound.”

Born in Wisconsin, Neinas was a longtime Colorado resident and was living in Boulder at the time of his death.

After working as a play-by-play man for Wisconsin football and basketball, Neinas got a job with the NCAA, where he served as an assistant executive director from 1961-71. He became commissioner of the Big Eight Conference in 1971 until moving to the CFA.

During his Big Eight tenure, Neinas chaired the committee that recommended the NCAA withdraw from the U.S. Olympic Committee. That led to a major reorganization and the passing of the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act that governs the Olympics in the U.S. today.

FILE - Chuck Neinas, right, speaks after being named commissioner of the Big Eight conference as professor Charles H. Oldfather looks on, Oct. 6, 1971, Kansas City, Kan. (AP Photo/William P. Straeter, File)

FILE - Big 12 Conference Interim Commissioner Chuck Neinas speaks during a news conference to announce West Virginia's entrance into the conference, Nov. 1, 2011, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/David Smith, File)

FILE - West Virginia President James Clements, left, Big 12 Interim Commissioner Chuck Neinas, center, and West Virginia Athletic Director Oliver Luck discuss the school's entrance to the Big 12 Conference during a news conference, Nov. 1, 2011, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/David Smith, File)

FILE - Chuck Neinas sits in his home office with an old football trophy, Feb. 27, 2003, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File)