Established in 1994, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF) serves as a platform for open dialogue discussions on political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. It consists of 27 members: ASEAN member states, ASEAN dialogue partners, as well as Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Talk processes are guided by the ARF Senior Officials Meeting (ARFSOM), which proposes activities and meetings alongside institutional matters. ARF promotes cooperation, confidence-building, and transparency among member states to work towards regional peace. Recent discussions include issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and counter-terrorism along the Korean Peninsula and South China Sea. However, since its establishment, the ARF has prohibited topics regarding the Taiwan Strait and does not include Taiwan in the forum.