ASEAN Economic Co-operation and Challenges

5. ASEAN External Co-operation

61 Chapter 5 ASEAN External Co-operation INTRODUCTION This chapter has two main components. One is the ASEAN Regional Forum which complements and supplements ASEAN cooperation efforts with non-ASEAN members. It serves as a political and security parallel of ASEAN post-ministerial meetings with ASEAN dialogue partners. The other component focuses on ASEAN external co-operation in consideration of the emerging new regionalism. This also covers the growing free trade arrangements between ASEAN and non-ASEAN trade partners. Monetary cooperation arrangements like ASEAN Plus Three and its impact on ASEAN consider whether ASEAN is challenged or stands to be marginalized. Thus, the question in the concluding section is whether free trade arrangements constitute a building block or a stumbling block to the ASEAN Free Trade Area. ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM The end of the Cold War had altered the configuration of international relations in East Asia. The new environment presented historic opportunities for the relaxation of tensions in the region through multilateral consultations, confidence building, and eventually the prevention of conflict. In 1992, the ASEAN Heads of State and Government declared that ASEAN 62 ASEAN Eco no mic Co -o peratio n and Challeng es should intensify its external dialogues in political and security matters as a means of building co-operative ties with states in the Asia-Pacific region. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was thus established in 1994. It aims to promote confidence-building, preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution in the region. The present participants include Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. ASEAN has taken the lead in the ASEAN Regional Forum. Paradoxically, ASEAN itself seems to have gone a full cycle, back to security and political matters. The ARF is a post-Cold War arrangement to mirror or act as a parallel to ASEAN post-ministerial meetings. The Forum involves the same set of dialogue partners and is meant to engage in constructive mechanisms to keep peace and stability in the region. Beside the two Koreas, cross-strait issues between China and Taiwan, and India-Pakistan nuclear proliferation, there are many territorial disputes in Southeast Asia to be resolved. The dispute over the Spratly Islands extends beyond the ASEAN states, involving China as well. Through political dialogue and confidence building, no tension has so far escalated into armed confrontation among ASEAN members since its establishment more than three decades ago. In July 1996, the ASEAN Regional Forum adopted criteria for participation which include: 1. commitment as sovereign states, 2. relevance, with an impact on the peace and security of the “geographic footprint” of key activities in Northeast and Southeast Asia and Oceania, 3. gradual expansion to ensure the effectiveness at a manageable level, 5. ASEAN External Co -o peratio n 63 4. consultations. The Forum’s work is complemented by a nonofficial “track two” process led by non-government research institutes and think-tanks. Since its inaugural meeting in Bangkok in July 1994, the ARF has taken an evolutionary approach extended over three broad stages. The first is in the promotion of confidence building among participants, the second in the development of preventive diplomacy and finally, the elaboration of approaches to conflicts. This approach enables the Forum participants to deal constructively with political and security issues that bear on regional peace and stability, including new issues that have emerged as a result of globalization. That ASEAN takes the lead in its ability and readiness to resolve political differences affecting its members and other countries in the Asia Pacific region, is not surprising. In a way, ASEAN’s commitment to political co-operation is also put to the test. More often than not, that commitment has been affirmed and the ASEAN approach to solving potentially explosive issues has been vindicated. These issues include territorial and jurisdictional disputes in the South China Sea, self-determination for East Timor, nuclear proliferation in Northeast Asia and South Asia, weapons of mass destruction and the impact of globalization. A balance of Southeast Asian security issues with those in Northeast Asia has to be maintained. At the 7th ASEAN Regional Forum in July 2000, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea participated for the first time, a significant step in the rapid evolution of the situation on the Korean Peninsula affecting the security environment of the...