ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Regional Block consists of a number of countries. Which one of the following groups of countries is a part of this block ?

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on August 8, 1967, with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration by its five founding members: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand [c1][t2]. Over the subsequent decades, the bloc expanded to include Brunei Darussalam (1984), Vietnam (1995), Lao PDR and Myanmar (1997), and Cambodia (1999) [c1][t1][t8]. Option 2 correctly identifies a group of these member states: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Other options are incorrect because they include non-member countries such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh (Option 1), Australia, New Zealand, China (Option 3), and Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal (Option 4). While India and China are dialogue partners and participate in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), they are not members of the core ASEAN regional block [c2][c3].

Sources

1. [1] Contemporary World Politics, Textbook in political science for Class XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Contemporary Centres of Power > 20 Contemporary World Politics > p. 20
2. [2] Indian Economy, Nitin Singhania .(ed 2nd 2021-22) > Chapter 18: International Economic Institutions > ASEAN > p. 550
3. [3] Contemporary World Politics, Textbook in political science for Class XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Contemporary Centres of Power > Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) > p. 21
4. [4] https://dfa.gov.ph/images/PDF/AEC%20Primer_Ebook2.pdf
5. [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_ASEAN
6. [6] https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-asean