World’s Friendliest Superpower? As Trump Upends Globe, Europe Positions Itself.

Well, Culture (among Military, Science and Economics) is a winning condition after all :)

A new survey of Southeast Asian opinion leaders shows renewed trust in the EU after last year's decline

Last year [2024] saw trust in the EU drop by nearly 10% among the participants, which some experts attributed to Brussels' support for Israel in Gaza. But the latest ISEAS-Yusof [2025] 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.

"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.