With the signing of the ASEAN Declaration on Aug. 8, 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established by its founding fathers: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
Brunei Darussalam joined the ASEAN on Jan. 8, 1984, followed by Viet Nam on July 28, 1995; Lao PDR and Myanmar on July 23, 1997, and Cambodia on April 30, 1999 — making up what is today the ten-Member States of the regional group.
Recently, the ASEAN Summit (Oct. 6-11) was held in Vientiane, Laos with its ASEAN chairmanship, with the theme ASEAN: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience, which reaffirmed the ASEAN’s commitment to strengthening the Southeast Asian community through intensifying cooperation under the three pillars: promoting infrastructure connectivity, narrowing development gap, promoting greater economic integration and people-to-people exchanges; and further strengthening ASEAN’s relations with external partners, while their relevance and centrality in the evolving regional architecture.
During the Summit, President Marcos Jr. challenged Chinese Premier Li Qiang over recent clashes in the South China Sea, as fears grow that conflict could erupt in the disputed waterway.
PBBM disclosed that “more than half” of the 10-member ASEAN offered some form of help to the Philippines amid China’s continued aggressions over the South China Sea.
These offers included possibilities of joint exercises and continued discussions on how to keep the peace over the hotly-disputed South China Sea, which other members also have overlapping claims.
Aside from the Philippines, territorial disputes in the South China Sea involve conflicting island and maritime claims by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan (Republic of China/ROC), and Vietnam, which is claimed by China (People’s Republic of China/PROC).
The idea of a maritime code was first agreed between China and ASEAN in 2002 but the formal process of creating one did not start until 2017.
Progress has since been painstakingly slow, with years spent discussing the framework and modalities for negotiations and guidelines issued to try to speed it up. Some ASEAN members are concerned the Code of Conduct will not be legally binding.
PBBM voiced frustration that parties involved could not agree on even simple things, adding the “definition of a concept as basic as ‘self-restraint’ does not yet enjoy consensus.”
To date, the ASEAN continues to be faced by these six challenges: 1) the shifting balance of power in the Asia Pacific; 2) the persistence of intra-ASEAN territorial conflicts; 3) the territorial dispute in the South China Sea, 4) the programs of military modernizations undertaken by ASEAN states, and the resulting prospects for an intra-ASEAN arms race, 5) uncertainty and strife caused by demands for domestic political change, and 6) the dangers posed by transnational (non-traditional) security threats.
One of the main criticisms is that the ASEAN is unable to manage the internal armed conflict in Myanmar, for ineffective human rights protection due to limitations in instruments and mechanisms, lack of independence, weak mandates, and absence of a judicial body for binding remedies.
Overall, the ASEAN truly is a success story.
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Author’s email: whelmayap@yahoo.com
