ASEAN and Regional Security

ASEAN Declaration - seven "aims and purposes"

- One focuses on regional peace and security
- The others have to do with economic, social, cultural, training, technical and
scientific cooperation, and the promotion of Southeast Asian studies. ASEAN
and Regional Security
Why ASEAN for cooperation?
First, with the withdrawal of the colonial powers, there would have been a
power vacuum which could have attracted outsiders to step in for political
gains. As the colonial masters had discouraged any form of international
contact, the idea of neighbors working together in a joint effort was thus to be
encouraged.
Second, from experience, especially with the Southeast Asia Treaty
Organization or SEATO, co-operation among disparate members located in
distant lands could be ineffective. We had therefore to strive to build co-
operation among those who lived close to one another and shared common
interests.
Thirdly, the need to join forces became imperative for the Southeast Asian
countries in order to be heard and to be effective. This was the truth that we
sadly had to learn. The motivation for our efforts to band together was thus to
strengthen our position and protect ourselves against Big Power rivalry.
ASEAN -> ensure many disputes between Southeast Asian countries would be
resolved by peaceful means. => create the environment for the development of
the nations in the area.
- ASEAN not allow disputes, like the Philippines' claim to Sabah, to erupt into
violent conflict. - reject outside attempts to interfere in affairs, as some former
colonial powers had tried to do in the early years of the Southeast Asian
countries' independence. Ex: China - association and its members were open to
constructive relations with - the rest of the world - actively seek the
engagement of countries important to them
- ASEAN members gave mutual reassurance -> not interfere in one an other's
internal affairs or threaten or use force against one another.
- committed themselves to the peaceful management and settlement of disputes
between them.
- association was open to membership of all countries in Southeast Asia,
signifying their commitment to reconciliation and eventual solidarity among
them all.

THE ZONE OF PEACE, FREEDOM AND NEUTRALITY

- 1971: ASEAN issued a declaration proclaiming Southeast Asia as "a Zone of

Peace, Freedom and Neutrality, free from any form or manner of interference
by outside Powers"
- With the Cold War having ended, the reference to neutrality in the ZOPFAN
Declaration may seem outdated and irrelevant today. However, it continues to
be valid if it is regarded as a commitment by ASEAN to seek friendship with
all and to be hostile to none, a commitment that has since characterized
ASEAN's stance towards the rest of the world, even as it continues to reject
"interference by outside Powers" in its affairs.
- "essential component" of ZOPFAN: the treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear
Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ)
- will not "develop, manufacture or otherwise acquire, possess or have control
over nuclear weapons; station or transport nuclear weapons by any means; or
test or use nuclear weapons" in the region.
- not to allow any other state to do any of those things except for the matter of
transport, an exception that was a concession to those with military or ship-
servicing arrangements with nuclear weapon states, specifically the United
States.

THE SOUTHEAST ASIA NUCLEAR WEAPONS-FREE ZONE

(SEANWFZ)

- prevent the introduction of nuclear arms into the region.

- Signed by the leaders of Southeast Asia in 1995, into force in March 1997
- SEANWFZ treaty is ASEAN's contribution to the global nuclear non-
proliferation regime.
- one of several such nuclear weapons-free zones in the world (others in
Antarctica, Latin America and the Caribbean, the South Pacific, and Africa.)

TREATY OF AMITY AND COOPERATION

24 February 1976, the Presidents or Prime Ministers of the then-five ASEAN

countries signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
• Respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and
national identity of all nations;
• Freedom from external interference, subversion or coercion;
• Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another;
• The peaceful settlement of disputes; •
Renunciation of the threat or use of force; and`
Effective cooperation among themselves.
Each party pledged to refrain from participating "in any activity which shall
constitute a threat to the political and economic stability, sovereignty, or
territorial integrity" of another.
=> stabilize relations + reduce possibility of violent conflict

Ministerial-level High Council

take cognizance of the existence of disputes or situations likely to disturb

regional peace and harmony" should the parties directly concerned be unable to
resolve a dispute through negotiations If necessary, the High Council would
"recommend appropriate measures for the prevention of Ministerial-level High
Council
take cognizance of the existence of disputes or situations likely to disturb
regional peace and harmony" should the parties directly concerned be unable to
resolve a dispute through negotiations
If necessary, the High Council would "recommend appropriate measures for
the prevention of a deterioration of the dispute or the situation"
However, High Council is not a dispute-settlement mechanism in the sense of
having the authority to issue binding decisions.

THE ASYLUM SEEKERS

Cambodians escaping from the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge

• a smaller scale of tribal minorities fighting on the American side in Laos
=> refugees fleeing across land boundaries to Thailand, China, Malaysia,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore & Hong Kong
=> disrupted lives of local communities/ living standards raised by
international aid > locals -> social tensions
 Host countries tolerated but insisted on 2 things:
+ qualified refugees will adopted by developed countries.
+ the countries of origins will take the rest back.

THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

- Complex situation in the South China Sea

- China: South Sea
- Vietnam: Eastern Sea
- China refused to talk about the SCS with ASEAN or any other multilateral
form, preferring to hold discussion with individual Southeast Asian claimants.
- 1992: Philippines’ chairmanship → ASEAN → Manila Declaration on the
SCS calling for the peaceful resolution of jurisdictional issues, the exercise of
self-restraint in the area, and cooperation on the range of common maritime
problems.
- ASEAN solidarity on the issue had been given expression and impetus when
the other ASEAN governments provide strong backing for the Philippines on
Mischief Reef, a submerged feature just a little over one hundred from the
Philippines archipelago.
→ The stealthy Chinese move: threatening to regional stability + Philippines
security.
- Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the SCS: Signed by the ASEAN and
Chinese foreign minister on the day of the ASEAN - China meeting in Phnom
Penh in December 2002.
+ peaceful settlement of disputes in the area.
+ freedom of navigation and overflight there.
+ “self-restraint” and refraining from “inhabiting” unoccupied land
features.
 + building mutual confidence through certain specific measures.
+ cooperate in environmental protection, scientific research, safety of
navigation and communication, search and rescue, and the fight against
transnational crime in the SCS.

THE QUESTION OF NON-INTERFERENCE

- A measure of regional stability of fostered by the ASEAN countries’

adherence to the universal principle of mutual non-interference in the domestic
affairs of nations → sovereignty of nations.
- Without the principle of the non-interference in the internal affairs of nations,
the entire inter-state system would collapse. Catastrophic wars resulted from
the states to interfere in the affairs of others.
- Particularly tenacious emphasis on state sovereignty arises from the regional
states’ recent experience with colonialism and with attempts by the former
colonial powers to hold sway over them even after their independence.
- Southeast Asia’s attachment to the principle of non-interference also stems
fundamentally from the great diversity one other that none would exploit that
diversity for national purposes. The absence of such mutual reassurance would
tend to destabilize the region, if not threaten the security of the nations in it.
- Interference and the application of the principle → adjust to changing times.
WHY?
+ Global economy: much more integrated + involved a much larger
expanse of the world.
+ spread of information in all fields → accelerated to the degree of
being largely instantaneous, enabling people in one spot one Earth to
know immediately the details of what happens elsewhere.
+ Human contacts, no longer limited by geography, have expanded and
intensified as a result of revolutionary advances in transportation and
information and communications technology, leading to the
convergence - or the collision - of cultures and values.

ENGAGING THE POWERS

- seeking the engagement of the major powers with Southeast Asia.

- ASEAN’s first initiative: the establishment of the system of Dialogue
Partnerships. European Economic Community in 1972 (a partnership
formalized in 1977), ASEAN built the Dialogue system, engaging Japan in
1973, Australia in 1974, New Zealand in 1975, and Canada and the United
States in 1977. China, India and Russia became Dialogue Partners in 1996.
→ Although initially driven by economic motives → significant political and
security dimension.
- efforts in the pursuit of the association’s political and security purposes
through the concept of the ASEAN Security Community, one of the three
components of the envisioned ASEAN Community: ASEAN Economic
Community & ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.
- ASEAN is already a security community:
+ developed networks for peaceful contact and habits of cooperation →
made recourse to inter-state violence.
+ evolved informal processes for regional problems to be worked out in
non-violent ways.
+ provied a regional context within which peaceful negotiations on
bilateral disputes are conducted.
+ ASEAN has laid down norms for inter-state relations on the region,
which constitute a mutual reassurance of peaceful intentions. Not only has its
members + non-regional states to accede to them.
+ ASEAN members have moved in solidarity on such issues as the
Cambodian problem, the asylum-seekers, international terrorism, and the SCS.
+ off limits to nuclear weapons.
+ a number of forums and processes, ASEAN has engaged the major
outside powers with interests in Southeast Asian affairs and of strategic
importance to the region.