2 results
59 - Trust-Building in Southeast Asia: What Made it Possible?
- from SECTION VII - ASSESSING ASEAN'S EXTERNAL INITIATIVES
-
- By Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, Institute of Strategic
- Edited in consultation with Kee Beng Ooi, Sanchita Basu Das, Terence Chong, Malcolm Cook, Cassey Lee, Michael Chai Ming Yeo
-
- Book:
- The 3rd ASEAN Reader
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 22 June 2017
- Print publication:
- 17 August 2015, pp 313-316
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
When Southeast Asia emerged slowly from the clutches of colonialism in the last century it was a region riven with conflict and instability. On the domestic front, renewed nation-building was often a painful process that had to contend with insurgencies, secessionist movements, political unrest, civil strife and coups.
Relations among states were frequently bad too. Historical enmities bred by past conflict, territorial sovereignty issues and disputes over land and maritime borders undermined bilateral relations and regional peace. Border incidents, armed confrontations and disruptions in diplomatic ties were normal features of the prevailing environment. Vietnam even invaded its neighbor, Cambodia, in 1978 and occupied the country for a decade. Major power conflicts and the Cold War also divided Southeast Asia into communist and non-communist halves.
Southeast Asia is very different today. The countries of the region are largely at peace with themselves and with each other. There has been a sea change in the level of trust among them. The remaining territorial disputes are muted and are being handled peacefully through diplomacy, negotiations and international arbitration.
Applying the model postulated by Emanual Adler and Michael Barnett in their book Security Communities (1988), the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations has transformed itself from a “nascent” to a firmly “ascendant” security community. Indeed, war today between neighboring ASEAN states (such as the Indonesian “confrontation” with Malaysia in 1963–1966 and Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia) is generally unthinkable, and ASEAN is evolving into a security community in the classic Deutschian sense.
Despite some lingering problems aggravated by residual territorial disputes and other occasional bilateral issues, progress towards the creation of an ASEAN Economic Community by the end of 2015 and thereafter is set to further strengthen the bonds of trust and the emergence of a credible community in Southeast Asia.
There is another, profoundly significant dimension to the achievement of these Southeast Asian states. This is their remark-able ability to attract all the major, middle and lesser powers outside Southeast Asia to join various ASEAN-centered platforms for regional co-operation and trust- building in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.
The ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus, ASEAN Plus Three process and the East Asia Summit all contribute to trust and confidence in the wider region, both directly and indirectly.
4 - Strengthening Cooperation in the ASEAN Regional Forum: An ASEAN View
-
- By Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), Malaysia
-
- Book:
- ASEAN-China Relations
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 18 November 2017
- Print publication:
- 17 August 2005, pp 31-39
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
INTRODUCTION
The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is now a decade old. During this period it has not progressed much beyond Stage One, namely, the promotion of confidence-building measures. It has begun to discuss preventive diplomacy, but has not developed or implemented any. As for Stage Three, the development of conflict-resolution measures, the ARF has even decided to be more cautious, renaming it “elaboration of mechanisms for conflict settlement”. Ten years into its formation, it is perhaps fair to note that the ARF is at a stage where it is deeply engaged in confidence-building, and is testing the ground for preventive diplomacy.
Assessing the ARF's record through the nomenclature of confidencebuilding, preventive diplomacy and elaboration of mechanisms for conflict settlement, however, does not do justice to the substantive preliminary work done by the ARF in the fields of counter-terrorism especially, but also on maritime security and transnational crime. Lumping this work under the terminology of “confidence-building” or “preventive diplomacy” just to conform to conventional ARF ideology is both largely erroneous as well as doing an injustice to the work done. This aspect will be discussed further below.
To some, especially those in the non-government sector, this progress in the ARF has been slow. To others, particularly government officials engaged in the process, the progress has been satisfactory although they concede that more needs to be done. Criticism regarding the slowness of the ARF which was initially expressed by officials from some Western countries has since abated, perhaps because they are more sanitized now of the complexities involved in the ARF, and perhaps also because they are relatively satisfied with the numerous activities that are being done by the ARF.
This chapter focuses on some of the areas where the ARF could be strengthened, areas where ASEAN and China could perhaps work together to advance the mission and agenda of the ARF further. It begins with a discussion of some of the factors that need to be borne in mind when considering the subject, followed by an assessment of the achievements and shortfalls of the ARF to-date.