The 2nd ASEAN Reader

Introduction

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pp. 3-4

The history of the member states of ASEAN lends clues to how political systems evolved from the earliest times. The defining feature of such systems of the ancient times was the mobilization of socially definable loyalties for a common purpose rather than specifying a territorial scale of such activities. ...

1. Early Southeast Asian Political Systems

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pp. 5-11

A remarkable development in Southeast Asian studies since the Second World War has been the steadily improving knowledge of the region’s prehistory.’¹ The best known discoveries, made possible by scientifically conducted excavations and the tools of carbon dating, thermoluminescence, and palaeobotany, ...

2. Post-Colonial Southeast Asia

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pp. 12-15

Only twenty-odd years have elapsed since Japan’s sudden surrender to the Allied powers dramatically inaugurated the most recent chapter in Southeast Asian history. The decolonization process has, historically speaking, barely begun, and it is therefore difficult to know what on the swiftly changing scene is ephemeral and what destined to perdure. ...

3. Post-War Regional Co-operation

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pp. 16-17

If there were a verb ‘to regionalize’ then a dispassionate student of regionalism in Southeast Asia might conjugate it thus: past, imperfect; present, indicative; future, indefinite. Regionalism in and/or for Southeast Asia has passed through three stages since 1945 and is still in the third stage. ...

4. The Formation of ASEAN

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pp. 18-21

In 1967, the continually-escalating war in Vietnam, together with China’s “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution,” dominated the consciousness of Asia. U.S. military involvement in Vietnam had been accelerated since her air-bombing of North Vietnam in February 1965 and she made use of military bases in Japan, the Philippines, and Thailand. ...

5. Institutional Framework: Recommendations for Change

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pp. 22-27

The gradual and piecemeal development of the Asean institutional framework and the emphasis on the consensus method for decision-making clearly reflects the cautious approach of the member governments to regional co-operation, which has so far been mainly political. ...

6. The Structure of Decision-making

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pp. 28-33

The national bureaucrats who work on ASEAN affairs might appropriately be called the “decision-makers” of the regional organization, for it is they who carry out the day-to-day chores — formulation of policy and viewpoints, attendance and deliberation at meetings, negotiations and discussions, and implementation of decisions. ...

7. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Challenges and Responses

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pp. 34-35

8. ASEAN Institution Building

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pp. 36-39

The institutional structure of Asean in the third transition beginning from 1992 reflects a process of incremental modification of a structure largely traceable to the Bali summit and the selective inputting of recommendations from the subsequent task forces on institutional reform. ...

9. ASEAN During the Crisis

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pp. 40-44

There appears to be a serious gap in perceptions between ASEAN officials and the public in and outside ASEAN on the efforts made by that institution to overcome the economic crisis that has affected all its members, albeit in varying degrees. Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia have been hit hardest; ...

10. The "ASEAN Way"

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pp. 45-51

Acentral characteristic of the “ASEAN way” has been its cautious attitude towards formal institutionalization.¹ Singapore’s Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar has called this ASEAN’s predilection for “organizational minimalism”.² Robert Scalapino has described it as a process of “soft regionalism” ...

11. ASEAN and Non-Interference

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pp. 52-57

The principle of non-interference is pervasive in ASEAN documents. The founding Bangkok Declaration of 1967 indicated a desire for regional co-operation in the spirit of equality and partnership and for regional peace and stability through respect for the principles of the U.N. Charter. ...

12. ASEAN: An Image Problem

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pp. 58-61

There is no way of getting around it and little point in being excessively diplomatic about it. This has been one of the most difficult, if not downright unsuccessful, years for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since the triumph of communism in Indochina in 1975, if not since the founding of ASEAN itself in 1967. ...

13. Intramural Challenges to the "ASEAN Way"

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pp. 62-65

At the pre-APEC Business Summit organized in Kuala Lumpur in November 1998 the American Vice-President repeated the standard argument that democracy is the key foundation of prosperity because investors put their money and their faith in democracy. Implicitly, Al Gore also contended, however, that anti-government protests in Malaysia, ...

14. Strategic Centrality: Indonesia's Changing Role in ASEAN

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pp. 66-70

Indonesia’s future domestic political configuration will have another effect on ASEAN. The Asian financial crisis has revealed a good deal of government business collusion and this has undermined the theory of “authoritarian advantage” whereby non-democratic governments have greater power to mobilize resources. ...

Introduction

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pp. 73-74

ASEAN has been, for most of its existence, an association of states focused on countering the threat of being swamped by the travails of Indochina and Myanmar. There was always the view that it was not a security organization, but one built on the political realities of being neighbours in a possibly unstable region. ..

15. Intra-ASEAN Political, Security and Economic Co-operation

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pp. 75-80

The emergence of ASEAN as a political community in the course of the dramatic maneuvers over Cambodia has tended to overshadow the more substantial progress achieved in bilateral political cooperation among the five partners. Since 1967, assiduous efforts have been directed toward structuring procedures ...

16. ASEAN and Indochina: The Dialogue

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pp. 81-84

The so-called ‘new thinking’ in Soviet Asian policy, enunciated by Gorbachev at Vladivostok in July 1986, has led to a rapid improvement in Sino-Soviet relations. In the short space of 18 months, all three of China’s long-standing obstacles to a normalisation of Sino-Soviet relations were removed. ...

17. Challenges for Society and Politics

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pp. 85-87

The enlargement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to include all the ten Southeast Asian countries in 1999 caused a number of concerns among analysts and observers of ASEAN affairs. Among their concerns are the implications of enlargement for the solidarity, cohesion, and effectiveness of the Association, ...

18. Expectations and Experiences of the New Members: A Vietnamese Perspective

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pp. 88-96

In 1995, Vietnam, owing to the changing international and regional political climate, was able to join ASEAN as a full member. This was a considerable achievement, given the political and security concerns between the original ASEAN members and Vietnam during the 1970s and 1980s over the question of Cambodia and other related issues. ...

19. Between China and ASEAN: The Dialectics of Recent Vietnamese Foreign Policy

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pp. 97-103

There was, of course, some opposition to Vietnam’s membership in ASEAN, especially by Thailand, because of a fear that Hanoi was all too eager to use ASEAN as a club against China. One Vietnamese scholar/ official recognized in 1994 that “in the short period after joining, it would be difficult for Vietnam to take the lead ...

20. Vietnam and Its Neighbours: The Border Dispute Dimension

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pp. 104-107

From the above analysis of Vietnam’s border disputes with its neighbours, it is evident that Hanoi is pursuing a fairly consistent policy on how to settle them. Vietnam favours formal negotiations, stressing the fact that the border disputes must be handled through peaceful measures and that the concerned countries must refrain from the use of force. ...

21. ASEAN Enlargement and Myanmar

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pp. 108-113

During the months of July and August 1997, the government-owned newspapers carried a series of boxed inserts entitled “Facts about ASEAN” to highlight Myanmar’s admission to the regional grouping. One stated that “Myanmar, through ASEAN, can now meet the groups wishing to pose a threat to her collectively, ...

22. The ASEAN Troika on Cambodia

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pp. 114-116

The five founding fathers of ASEAN (namely the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand), in issuing the ASEAN Declaration in Bangkok in August 1967, envisioned it to encompass all ten countries of Southeast Asia under one sub-regional organisation. ...

23. The Greater Mekong Subregion: An ASEAN Issue

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pp. 117-122

In general, ASEAN’s economic processes are in place. The challenging task is to develop a sustainable and reliable programme for delivering development, in addition to improving capital and credit transfers to the developing members. Apart from border issues, and sporadic security hot flashes along the borders, ...

24. The Security Challenges in the GMS

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pp. 123-125

The Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) comprises the Lao PDR, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar, which are the new members of ASEAN, and Thailand, an original member of ASEAN and the Yunnan Province of China. These countries share the Mekong River which is the world’s 12th longest river. ...

25. The GMS Co-operation within the ASEAN Context

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pp. 126-128

During the Cold War period, the Mekong River was formally referred to as a dividing line between the communists and the non-communists in the continental Southeast Asia. On one side, it was the lower riparian countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and on the other side, Thailand, which stood alone by itself. ...

26. Impact of ASEAN Enlargement on GMS Countries

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pp. 129-131

Out of the six participating countries in the GMS, Thailand is an original member of ASEAN, while Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia are new members. This section will look at the implications and impact of new members joining ASEAN/ AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area) on the GMS, especially co-operation in infrastructure development and finance. ...

27. Neighbourhood Watch and the East Timor/Aceh Crises

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pp. 132-134

Indonesia is clearly a linchpin in the ASEAN neighbourhood watch grid. Its geopolitical importance to regional states and to the major powers stems from the location of several key straits — transit passages and choke points — within its waters. It is a littoral state, together with Malaysia and Singapore, of the Malacca Strait. ...

Introduction

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pp. 137-138

From its inception, social development has always been a feature of the ASEAN agenda. ASEAN’s social development programmes have covered such areas as health, women, children and youth, and education. Through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the programmes were managed by the ASEAN Committee on Social Development (COSD). ...

28. Managing Mobilization and Migration of Southeast Asia's Population

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pp. 139-140

In the 30 years since the founding of ASEAN, the demography of Southeast Asia has changed profoundly in many ways. Fertility and mortality levels have fallen dramatically, urbanisation has continued at a rapid pace, ageing has become a significant issue and family structure and functioning have been transformed. ...

29. Media in Southeast Asia

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pp. 141-143

Reviewing all the available literature on media in Southeast Asia risks cramming too much (both in quantity and diversity of topics) into the limited confines of a book chapter. It is likely to produce a long list of broad categories, too summarily treated to be of any analytical value.¹ ...

30. The Role of Education in ASEAN Economic Growth

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pp. 144-149

Now that Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have been accepted as members of ASEAN, generalisations about ASEAN are much more difficult to make, and this is no less true of education than of economic growth or political matters. The original ASEAN five countries and Brunei have all achieved something approaching universal primary education,¹ ...

31. Climbing Up the Technological Ladder

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pp. 150-152

Simply stated, the dependency theory maintains that growth and development in the developing countries (the “periphery”) is hampered by structural dependence on the advanced, industrialised countries (the “core”), although the degree of such constraints varies widely. ...

32. Human Rights and Regional Order

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pp. 153-158

The ASEAN states consider the rising prominence of human rights in recent years as a direct result of the end of the Cold War. The anti-communist thrust of Western policy, which tolerated blatant human rights abuses by pro-Western Asian governments in the past, is no more. ...

33. Promoting Human Rights

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pp. 159-160

The fact remains that two key planks of the ASEAN governments’ position on human rights — non-selectivity and “situational uniqueness” (the need to take cultural, political and economic differences into account) — are mutually exclusive. ...

34. Human Security in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

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pp. 161-164

What, then, of the development of human security in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos? Cambodia is now, at long last, a case for guarded optimism. The logic underlying the organization of elections in the country has the intention to bring about social and political commitment to the construction of the rule of law ...

35. Role of Nonstate Actors in Building an ASEAN Community

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pp. 165-167

The activities of ASEAN-ISIS have contributed significantly to the formation of a sense of community among the policy elites and intellectual leaders in the region by establishing reliable channels of communication and, thus, enhancing mutual confidence. ...

36. Ethnicity and Religion in Social Development

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pp. 168-170

Islam is ASEAN’s largest religion, though it is not predominant in all six countries. Next are Christianity, Buddhism, and the Chinese religions based on varying mixes of Buddhism, philosophy, and folklore, most notable in Malaysia and Singapore. The noteworthy point is that ASEAN subscribes to religious tolerance, ...

37. Asia: Al Qaeda's New Theatre

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pp. 171-172

As many as three dozen Middle Eastern, Asian and European terrorist groups trained in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa valley in Lebanon in the 1970s and 1980s. In the early 1990s Afghanistan replaced Lebanon as the major centre of international terrorist training, and by October 2001, forty foreign terrorist groups were operating there. ...

38. Islam and Society in Southeast Asia after 11 September

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pp. 173-174

These regional terrorist networks indicate the dimensions of the new security challenges facing Southeast Asia. The transnational al-Qaeda terrorist network will be the major security threat to governments in the region over the next decade. Because of its regional network, Southeast Asia will remain a major centre of al-Qaeda activity. ...

39. Islam in Southeast Asia: At the Crossroads

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pp. 175-177

Since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, a media blitz on terrorism has generally portrayed the world’s one billion Muslims as increasingly homogenous, uncompromising, and radicalized. These post-11 September pundits, who have only recently discovered the Muslim world, ignore historical contexts, ...

40. Building Knowledge Societies: ASEAN in the Information Age

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pp. 178-181

“Building knowledge societies” is, in fact, a subject on which ASEAN itself has placed the highest priority. There are, at this time, few things more urgent or more important for ASEAN — or for any nation or region — than building “knowledge societies.” ...

41. ASEAN, the Wider Region and the World: The Social Agenda

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pp. 182-184

ASEAN as a regional organisation does not have a social agenda. It may have some idea of the sort of economic tenets it should follow as it pursues economic prosperity; it may have some notion of the political institutions that should develop within the region; ...

Introduction

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pp. 187-188

ASEAN’s economic record has been, at best, one of mixed results. In most instances the verdict has been that it could have been better. There had already formed, in the previous decade, a view that expectation and implementation gaps were significant in the group. ...

42. The ASEAN Model of Regional Co-operation

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pp. 189-193

More than a decade after the Bali Summit, ASEAN’s achievements in the major area of regional economic cooperation have been uneven and modest. Its trade liberalization program, which lacks sufficient breadth and depth, is still ineffective in terms of restructuring ASEAN’s trade pattern and shifting it toward a greater regional focus, ...

43. The ASEAN Free Trade Area: The Search for a Common Property by Lee Tsao Yuan

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pp. 194-197

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) entered the decade of the 1990s faced with two new political challenges. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Cold War meant that security issues would, in most parts of the world, no longer be of paramount importance. ...

44. Co-operation and Institutional Transformation in ASEAN: Insights from the AFTA Project

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pp. 198-204

Apart from the initial agreements made among the ASEAN governments in 1992 that launched AFTA and the Summit Declarations of 1995 and 1998, all other agreements signed between the ASEAN member governments are formal and binding, requiring domestic ratification by national legislatures (Table 1).¹ ...

45. AFTA and the Politics of Regional Economic Co-operation

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pp. 205-210

There were three levels at which there was cause for concern that AFTA might be derailed. First, at the level of the ASEAN leadership, advocates of the agreement were worried that changes at the top would jeopardize the implementation stage. This fear was highlighted in Thailand when, after the March 1992 elections, ...

46. Intra-ASEAN Economic Co-operation

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pp. 211-219

There are two approaches to strengthen intra-ASEAN economic co-operation. First is the encompassing idea of a free trade area, with the understanding that all else will follow. Second is the question whether the free trade area is sufficient to enhance the larger market forged through intra- ASEAN trade and investment, ...

47. The Expansion of AFTA

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pp. 220-225

The decision to establish AFTA was taken at the summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) heads of state in January 1992. All six members of ASEAN (the ASEAN-6) would participate. At inception, the ASEAN-6 countries agreed to a deadline of 2008 for reducing tariffs to 0–5 per cent. ...

48. AFTA = Another Futile Trade Area?

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pp. 226-229

In discussing intra-ASEAN trade, we need to exercise some caution. The role of Singapore as an entrepot port tends to distort the picture somewhat. A large proportion of Singapore’s exports to the ASEAN neighbours are really re-exports of products from outside the region. ...

49. Foreign Direct Investment in ASEAN: Can AFTA Make a Difference?

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pp. 230-233

Until 1992, regional trade preferences were not an important item on the policy agenda of ASEAN. Although ASEAN adopted a Preferential Trading Arrangement (PTA) at the Bali Summit in 1976 (becoming effective in 1977), this initiative had little impact on regional trade because of its narrow commodity coverage ...

50. Privatization and Deregulation in ASEAN

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pp. 234-242

Privatization and deregulation have attracted increasing attention in Southeast Asia, especially among ASEAN countries in recent years. In 1985, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held a conference in Manila, Philippines, on “Privatization Policies, Methods and Procedures”. ...

51. ASEAN and the Asian Crisis

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pp. 243-248

Processes of economic cooperation are central to the institutionalist argument. It rests on the axiomatic premises that economic cooperation produces gains for all and enhances national welfare. Trading states are therefore interested in a peaceful international environment. ...

52. External Capital Flows and Policy Challenges in the ASEAN Economies

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pp. 249-253

Almost all the Asian developing countries which attracted significant capital inflows faced many of the positive and adverse macroeconomic consequences.¹ On the positive side, acceleration in the rate of growth of GDP is evident for several countries during the capital surge phase. ...

53. ASEAN and the Idea of an "Asian Monetary Fund"

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pp. 254-260

There are a number of crucial questions to address when considering the idea of an AMF. First, what would be the purpose of such a fund? Should it be a supplement to the IMF, or should it support a particular “Asian” approach to economic development? Which country or countries would lead such an organisation? ...

Introduction

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pp. 263-264

In the early years, Cold War rivalries were the defining element for ASEAN. Security among the newly independent ASEAN members was inter-state, giving primacy to the principle of non-interference within ASEAN, and a preoccupation with balancing regional and global superpower interests in the region. ...

54. Is ASEAN a Security Organization?

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pp. 265-268

The Association of South East Asian Nations was conceived as a means of promoting intra-regional reconciliation in the wake of Indonesia’s confrontation of Malaysia. Its founders exhibited also an interest in the management of regional order. ...

55. A Post-Cold War Architecture for Peace and Security

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pp. 269-272

The shape of the securiy architecture in the post-bipolar world will, to a large extent, be determined by our assumptions of what security entails. The premise of structural realism, the influential doctrine behind international power politics, is that the state is a unitary actor seeking to survive in an essentially anarchical international system.¹ ...

56. ASEAN and the Southeast Asian Security Complex

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pp. 273-276

In the aftermath of ASEAN’s success — no doubt aided by the end of the Cold War — in pressuring Vietnam to leave Cambodia and thereby making a solution to the Cambodian problem possible, some have predicted that ASEAN would lose its raison d’être and that its solidarity and cohesion would be weakened. ...

57. The ASEAN Regional Forum

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pp. 277-279

58. The ASEAN-ISIS and CSCAP Experience

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pp. 280-284

ASEAN-ISIS is the most important and visible peace and security-related track two mechanism in Southeast Asia.¹ Initiated by the Indonesian Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), it was organized on 3–4 September 1984 in Bali, Indonesia. ...

59. Evolution of the Security Dialogue Process in the Asia-Pacific Region

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pp. 285-288

Official dialogue, often referred to as Track One dialogue, is confined to officials of governments. Non-official dialogue, conducted by non-governmental organizations, should in theory be independent of governments, but in reality there are often varying degrees of governmental influence, representation or support. ...

60. New Security Issues and the Impact on ASEAN

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pp. 289-296

It can rightly be said that for ASEAN countries, many non-traditional security issues have long been their concerns with emphasis on freedom from want, similar to the UNDP’s definition of human security. This is evident in their concerns with developing their economies. ...

61. The Limits of Conflict Resolution in Southeast Asia

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pp. 297-302

From both the theoretical and practical points of view Southeast Asia ranks as one of the more complex regions, resulting in difficulty in establishing conceptual, much less policy-relevant, security arrangements. Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union regards the entire region as an area of vital security interest. ...

62. Alternative Security Models: Implications for ASEAN

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pp. 303-309

Southeast Asia’s post-war history is marked by the preoccupation of the elite with sustaining their political power (an intrastate security preoccupation) and by minimising their sovereignties’ vulnerability to external aggression (an inter-state security orientation). ...

63. Disputes in the South China Sea: Approaches for Conflict Management

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pp. 310-313

Four areas are in dispute in the South China Sea: the Paracels, which is contested by China, Taiwan and Vietnam; the Gulf of Tonkin, disputed by China and Vietnam; Pratas Island and Macclesfield Bank, contested by China and Taiwan; and the Spratlys, contested in whole or part by six littoral parties: ...

64. Integrating ASEAN and Fragmenting ARF in a Subregional and Regional Context

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pp. 314-316

The centripetal force within the ASEAN is being counter balanced by the centrifugal force of the ARF. The subregional ASEAN states have to apply their survival skills among the regional Great Powers. ...

65. Northeast Asia and ASEAN: Security Linkages, Implication, and Arrangements

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pp. 317-320

It should be no less importance in that the inter-Korean relationship also entered an entirely new phase. Within the Korean Peninsula there is a new atmosphere and movement of the glacier towards a thaw in inter-Korean relations. Faced with the spectre of political isolation and a rapid economic decline in the 1990s, ...

66. Asia-Pacific Security: Strategic Trends and Military Developments

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pp. 321-328

The Korean peninsula remains the key focus of any assessment of security threats in the Asia-Pacific region simply because the peninsula remains one of the most militarized places in the world. Along its side of the 38th parallel, North Korea deploys the world’s largest commando force of more than 80,000 men ...

67. The Interrelationship between Global and Regional Security Issues

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pp. 329-334

There is a sense that ASEAN is being eclipsed by global events and factors beyond the control of individual member states even when they happen within the region. ASEAN has, in the meantime, been trying to find its centre in its interactions with the multilateral world. ...

Introduction

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pp. 337-338

There is a sense that ASEAN is being eclipsed by global events and factors beyond the control of individual member states even when they happen within the region. ASEAN has, in the meantime, been trying to find its centre in its interactions with the multilateral world. ...

68. ASEAN and the North-South Dialogue

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pp. 339-341

What relevance do North-South issues have for ASEAN and what is ASEAN’s stake in the North-South negotiations? I submit that not only has ASEAN a vital stake in them, but it has also a crucial role to play both in the North-South dialogue and in the recovery of the world economy. ...

69. The Parallel Tracks of Asian Multilateralism

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pp. 342-347

As the Asia-Pacific region approaches a new millennium, regional international relations are moving away from Washingtoncentered bilateralism to a more diffuse multilateral structure. This new structure consists of both economic and politicalsecurity components, which currently run along separate tracks. ...

70. ASEAN and the International Trading System

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pp. 348-353

Political considerations led to the persuasive conclusion that intra-ASEAN relations must be reinforced. However, because of ASEAN’s great dependence on the international market, its overall orientation in trade must remain global. ...

71. EU-ASEAN Relationship

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pp. 354-357

Regional integration or co-operation is not an end in itself. A preferential reduction of barriers to trade was originally designed as a fall-back position when in the early part of the twentieth century Europe was unable to push along progress in non-discriminatory liberalization, ...

72. The Asian Crisis Seen from Europe

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pp. 358-365

The crisis of Asian financial markets has been an exogenous shock to the Asia- Europe Meeting (ASEM). The meeting, with its various subsidiary conferences and forums, has been designed to cope with policy-induced economic and political impediments to bilateral transactions and to remove trade obstacles and investment barriers. ...

73. The ASEM Process and Co-operative Engagement in the 21st Century

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pp. 366-369

Asean regionalism — and for that matter, any broader coalition of forces at the intraregional and interregional levels — offers the best prospects for regional stability, development, security and prosperity for Southeast Asia. ...

74. ASEAN and the Asia-Europe Meeting

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pp. 370-372

Why did Asean launch the ASEM process? My surmise is that the leaders of Asean decided in 1994–95 to convene the first Asia-Europe Summit in Bangkok for the following reasons. ...

75. APEC and ASEAN: Complementing or Competing?

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pp. 373-377

The establishment of APEC in 1989 itself was a testimony to the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific economies. Increased economic interdependence implies increased friction, and regional issues call for regional solutions. Hence the need for a Pacific body that would serve as a forum for airing grievances, ...

76. APEC and ASEAN: New Roles, New Directions

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pp. 378-381

The APEC Roundtable sessions were notable for the contrasting views of the two papers presented: while one set out the positive effects of a grouping like APEC, the other argued that all regional groupings were by definition sub-optimal. ...

77. The Asian Crisis and the Adequacy of Regional Institutions

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pp. 382-384

If a case has been established that the East Asian financial crisis has produced an increased demand for more effective regional institutions, brief consideration should be given to factors that will influence whether regional institutions will be able to provide appropriate responses to meet this demand. ...

78. AFTA and NAFTA: Complementing or Competing?

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pp. 385-389

A first step in addressing the future relations between AFTA and NAFTA is to look at the similarities and differences between them. Their common membership in APEC is an important similarity in providing a forum for dialogue and setting joint priorities for trade relations. ...

79. Regionalism and Economic Integration in East Asia

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pp. 390-393

Over the last fifteen years or so regionalism has become increasingly prevailing in the world economy. After the first wave of regionalist tendency during the 1960s, the number of regional integration agreements (RIAs) has again surged especially since the mid-1980s. ...

80. ASEAN Policy Responses to North American and European Trading Agreements

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pp. 394-398

The initial concerns of Southeast Asian political leaders over the formation of SEM and NAFTA appeared to concentrate on the fear that the new trading blocs would raise tariff barriers against external trade. Under GATT rules, existing tariffs should not be raised when free trade areas are formed, ...

Introduction

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pp. 401-402

In the globalizing world of the twenty-first century, characterized, as it is, by the proliferation of multilateral agencies, institutions, commissions, organizations, associations and communities, we tend to forget that nation-states are still important actors on the international stage. ...

81. ASEAN’s Engagement with the U.S. in the 21st Century

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pp. 403-409

There is a general recognition in post-Cold War Southeast Asia that the United States as a benign superpower or least unacceptable external power (depending on one’s perspective) has a crucial strategic role in maintaining a favourable balance of power and external influence in the wider Asia- Pacific region, ...

82. Is There a U.S. Strategy for East Asia?

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pp. 410-414

Imminent security risks in the Asia-Pacific are concentrated in Northeast Asia where the United States deploys most of its western Pacific armed forces and where its most unambiguous defence treaties apply. North Korea’s defiance of nuclear nonproliferation norms in 1994 and China’s provocative naval exercises over Taiwan in 1996 ...

83. The United States and the Aborted Asian Monetary Fund

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pp. 415-419

The abortive exercise, in the wake of the Thai and Korean currency crises, to set up an Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) is instructive. While it drew material and rhetorical support from a range of regional states, the United States refused to support it. ...

84. Trends in U.S. Politics and Their Implications for America's Asian Policy

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pp. 420-426

It is clearly impossible to consider all the important developments that might occur in Asia or in U.S. politics that could influence America’s Asian policy. The 1988 presidential election and the implications of the turmoil in world financial markets beginning in the autumn of 1987 add new uncertainties to the scene. ...

85. ASEAN-China Relations Turn the Corner

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pp. 427-429

ASEAN-China relations have come a long way in the past decade and there have been remarkable advances in economic, political, and security cooperation this year. Relations between China and ASEAN were initiated only in July 1991 when Beijing began to attend the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference (ASEAN PMC) ...

86. ASEAN’s Role in the Chinese Foreign Policy Framework

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pp. 430-435

In an era of economic reforms and its opening up to the external world, China wants to secure a peaceful international environment to concentrate on economic development. Its strategy in the Asia-Pacific region has been consistent: to stabilize China’s periphery, and treat the region as China’s base. ...

87. ASEAN-China Trade and Investment Relations

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pp. 436-439

ASEAN and China are not each other’s main trading partner, but the bilateral trade has been growing rapidly in the past decade. ASEAN-China trade grew at 20% a year during the 1990s and by over 30% in 2002. ASEAN is China’s 5th largest trading partner and account for 8.3% of China’s total trade in 2000. ...

88. China-ASEAN Free Trade Area

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pp. 440-442

Before the 1990s, there was no official relationship between the ASEAN as a grouping and China, although China had official relations with certain individual ASEAN member states on a bilateral basis. From the late 1980s, China intensified its efforts to establish diplomatic relationship with all the remaining ASEAN states ...

89. The Rhetoric of Australia's Regional Policy

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pp. 443-449

From a realist perspective, Indonesia is the key to Australia’s defence. It commands the nation’s northern approaches from which or through which any conventional military attack on Australia would be launched. A stable and friendly Indonesia is therefore crucial for Australia’s security. ...

90. The ASEAN-10 and Japan

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pp. 450-451

Areform-oriented China should be wel comed not only by ASEAN but also by Japan. If, as Hans Maull puts it, “reconciling China with international order represents the biggest political challenge that the world is facing today” (1997, 466), then engaging China in regional as well as international affairs peacefully and incrementally benefits enormously both ASEAN and Japan. ...

91. Outlook for Japanese FDI in ASEAN

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pp. 452-457

According to the survey by the EXIM Bank, the motivation of Japanese corporations to undertake FDI in the medium term (up to fiscal 2001) has declined (Table 1). The proportion of respondents who see investments increasing in Asia in the medium term has declined, and the decline is particularly steep for investments in ASEAN. ...

92. ASEAN’s Role in Integrating Russia into the Asia-Pacific Economy

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pp. 458-462

Whenever Asia Pacific observers contemplate engaging Russia economically, attention invariably veers toward Russian Asia. Since three-fourths of the former Soviet Union’s territory was located east of the Ural Mountains, it was both a European and an Asian state. ...

93. ASEAN in India's Foreign Policy

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pp. 463-468

Slowly but surely, ASEAN is emerging as central pivot in the Indian view of Asia and its future, and essential to the construction of a security order that will be in India’s interests. This is not only because the view of the Asia-Pacific as a zone of increased threats, ...

Introduction

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pp. 471-472

What type of institution will ASEAN become? It is clear that, over the past three decades, ASEAN has insisted on the principle of organic growth. ASEAN leaders have resisted following a model. They have repeatedly stated that ASEAN will not be a Southeast Asian EU. ...

94. ASEAN Towards 2020: Strategic Goals and Critical Pathways

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pp. 473-477

The founding fathers of Asean who met in Bangkok a generation ago had a vision for our region, which was called ‘Southeast Asia’, which hopefully in the decades ahead will be called ‘the Asean Community’. ...

95. The Evolving Regional Role of ASEAN

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pp. 478-480

During the three decades which have passed since its formation, both ASEAN and its regional context have changed. In that period, the Association has demonstrated a facility for adaptation. The decisive point of adaptation occurred with the entry of Vietnam which marked a qualitative change in composition. ...

96. The Future of ASEAN

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pp. 481-483

The trend towards the deepening of ASEAN’s co-operation in a wide variety of areas including the security and economic fields, expansion of its membership, and its increasing role in Asia-Pacific affairs will most likely continue in the years leading to and beyond the turn of the century. ...

97. Prospects for Intra- and Extraregional Relations

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pp. 484-485

The ASEAN-10 have the potential to form a unified market with a population of 480 million. Unity takes time, however, because not only the leading members but also the followers face a variety of tasks in constructing sound economies. As of early 1999, Cambodia had managed to establish the Hun Sen government ...

98. Future Directions for ASEAN

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pp. 486-488

But looking into the future, what do we have to do? We have to make ARF both meaningful and attractive. We have to make all ARF participants feel that it is worthwhile. I am not quite sure that they will be feeling that as we move into the immediate future. ...

99. ASEAN’s Past and the Challenges Ahead

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pp. 489-492

Significant internal changes within countries and external, global, and regional changes, particularly in the last decade, have created extreme and dramatic pressures for ASEAN as a whole and for each of its members. The greatest impact on ASEAN has been the pressures resulting from globalization. ...

100. ASEAN Vision 2020 and the Hanoi Plan of Action

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pp. 493-496

Amidst the most serious crisis that has faced the region, ASEAN declared its Vision 2020 on 15 December 1997. This broad vision aims to see ASEAN as a concert of nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development, and in a community of caring societies. ...

101. Overview of the Political Dimension of ASEAN's Security

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pp. 497-499

On November 5, 2001 ASEAN leaders in their Joint Action to Counter Terrorism unequivocally condemned the terrorist attacks of September 11 as an “attack against humanity and an assault on all of us.” They viewed terrorism as a “direct challenge to the attainment of peace, progress and prosperity of ASEAN and the realization of ASEAN Vision 2020,” ...

102. ASEAN in a New Asia

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pp. 500-502

The competition for scarce capital, particularly in the form of FDI with its employment creation, wage increase, transfer of industrial technology, managerial expertise, and marketing know-how as well as stimulus to the development of local supporting and domestic industries, is likely to intensify in East Asia, ...

103. Towards an ASEAN Economic Community

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pp. 503-508

The significance for ASEAN to make a timely move towards deeper economic integration is without any doubt. ASEAN members have realized that they have a much greater chance to maintain their international competitiveness if they work together towards the creation of an integrated market. ...

104. Institutional Reforms to Achieve ASEAN Market Integration

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pp. 509-513

So far, the ASEAN Dispute Settlement Mechanism has failed to resolve trade disputes due to its inability to enforce agreements. Currently, the ASEAN institution also lacks well-defined regulations to safeguard the interest of producers, investors and consumers. This is likely to become more problematic as economic integration deepens. ...

105. Region, Security and the Return of History

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pp. 514-518

It is true that ASEAN faces important practical tasks today, and that the builders of ASEAN have given a lot of attention to the slow and complex process of establishing common norms, and a sense of community, in the Southeast Asian region. And in setting out to defend such processes as being of vital and current importance, ...

The ASEAN Bangkok, 8 August 1967

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pp. 520-521

ASEAN Declaration on the South China Sea

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pp. 522-523

Singapore Declaration of 1992, Singapore, 28 January 1992

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pp. 524-529

ASEAN Vision 2020

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pp. 530-533

Ha Noi Plan of Action

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pp. 534-548

Declaration on Terrorism, Phnom Penh, 2002

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pp. 549-550