The new deputy secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is wasting little time in trying to enhance the organization’s clout. Singapore’s Pushpanathan Sundram, who was promoted to the post last month, wants the ten member states of Asean as well as China, Japan and South Korea to increase by 50 percent a recently created $80 billion swaps facility, designed to help countries borrow from each other in times of crisis. "We always need to be guarded," says Pushpanathan, 47, a former Singaporean Defense Ministry official.

The finance ministers agreed last year to establish the swaps facility, with China, Japan and South Korea providing 80 percent of the funds. It is expected to be running by May. The Asian Development Bank, along with Asean, is pushing to increase the size of the facility to $120 billion, a sign of the deepening global economic crisis.