ASEAN needs to emphasize real cooperation and not just make a show of talking about it at meetings, said Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday ahead of the opening of the ASEAN Summit, The Straits Times reports. Separately, delivering the 44th Singapore Lecture on Tuesday, China’s Premier Li Keqiang said that ASEAN and China should work together to protect free trade and multilateralism, while avoided making direct reference  to US President Donald Trump’s unilateral moves on trade. At a panel discussion on the second day of the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Singapore, three ministers from ASEAN countries pointed to growing protectionism and technological change in addition to the demographic challenge as key trends to watch.