Association of Southeast Asian Nations

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations,^[1] commonly referred to as ASEAN, pronounced /'ɑ.si.ɑn/ ("AH-SEE-AHN") in English, is a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on August 8, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand^[2]. Its aims include the acceleration of economic growth, social progress, cultural development among its members, and the promotion of regional peace.^[3]

In 2005, the bloc had a combined GDP (Nominal/PPP) of about USD$884 billion^[4]/$2.755 trillion^[4][5] growing at an average rate of around 4% per annum.^[6] Nominal GDP had grown to $1,066.4 billion in 2006. ^[7]

[edit] Membership

See also: List of members of the ASEAN

ASEAN was founded by five states, mostly from maritime Southeast Asia: the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. The British protectorate of Brunei joined six days after the country became independent from the United Kingdom on January 8, 1984. The mainland states of Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar were later admitted. Vietnam joined on July 28, 1995, while Laos and Myanmar were admitted on July 23, 1997.^[8] Cambodia became the newest member when it was admitted on April 30, 1999.^[8]

The Melanesian state of Papua New Guinea has had observer status since 1976.^[9] In July 23, 2006, José Ramos Horta, the then Prime Minister of East Timor, signed a formal request for membership and expected the accession process to last at least five years before the then-observer state became a full member.^[10][11]

[edit] History

ASEAN was preceded by an organization called the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA), an alliance consisting of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand that was formed in 1961.

The bloc itself, however, was established on August 8, 1967, when foreign ministers of five countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand—met at the Thai Department of Foreign Affairs building in Bangkok and signed the ASEAN Declaration, more commonly known as the Bangkok Declaration. The five foreign ministers—Adam Malik of Indonesia, Narciso R. Ramos of the Philippines, Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia, S. Rajaratnam of Singapore, and Thanat Khoman of Thailand—are considered as the organization's Founding Fathers.^[12]

In the 1970s, the organization embarked on a program of economic cooperation, following the Bali Summit of 1976. This floundered in the mid-1980s and was only revived around 1991 due to a Thai proposal for a regional free trade area. The bloc then grew when Brunei Darussalam became the sixth member after it joined on January 8, 1984, barely a week after the country became independent on January 1.^[13]

During the 1990s, the bloc experienced an increase in both membership as well as in the drive for further integration. In 1990, Malaysia proposed the creation of an East Asia Economic Caucus^[14] composing the then-members of ASEAN as well as the People's Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea, with the intention of counterbalancing the growing influence of the United States in the APEC as well as in the Asian region as a whole.^[15][16] This proposal, however, failed since it faced heavy opposition from Japan and the United States.^[15][17]

Despite this failure, member states continued to work for further integration. In 1992, the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme was signed as a schedule for phasing tarrifs and as a goal to increase the region’s competitive advantage as a production base geared for the world market. This law would act as the framework for the ASEAN Free Trade Area.

On July 28, 1995, Vietnam became the seventh member, Laos and Myanmar joined two years later in July 23, 1997. Cambodia was to have joined together with Laos and Myanmar, but was deferred due to the country's internal political struggle. The country later joined on April 30, 1999, following the stabilization of its government. This allowed the bloc to include all countries within Southeast Asia.^[18]

At the turn of the 21st century, issues shifted to involve a more environmental prospective. The organization started to discuss environmental agreements. These included the signing of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in 2002 as an attempt to control haze pollution in Southeast Asia.^[19] Unfortunately, this was unsuccessful due to the outbreaks of the 2005 Malaysian haze and the 2006 Southeast Asian haze. Other environmental treaties introduced by the organization include the Cebu Declaration on East Asian Energy Security^[20] and the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, both of which are responses to Global Warming and the negative effects of climate change.

Through the Bali Concord 11 in 2003, ASEAN has subscribed to the notion of democratic peace, which means all member countries believe democratic processes will promote regional peace and stability. Also the non-democratic members all agreed that it was something all member states should aspire to. ^[21]

The leaders of each country, particularly Mahatir Mohammad of Malaysia, also felt the need to further integrate the region. Beginning in 1997, the bloc began creating organizations within its framework with the intention of achieving this goal. ASEAN Plus Three was the first of these and was created to improve existing ties with the People's Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea. This was followed by the even larger East Asia Summit, which included these countries as well as India, Australia, and New Zealand. This new grouping acted as a prerequisite for the planned East Asia Community, which was supposedly patterned after the now-defunct European Community. The ASEAN Eminent Persons Group was created to study the possible successes and failures of this policy as well as the possibility of drafting an ASEAN Charter.

In 2006, ASEAN was given observer status at the United Nations General Assembly.^[22] As a response, the organization awarded the status of "dialogue partner" to the United Nations.^[23]

In 2007, ASEAN will be celebrating its 40th anniversary.

[edit] The ASEAN Way

ASEAN was designed to be first and foremost an association of states actively engaged in nation building, as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore had become sovereign independent nations only after the end of the World War II. Since nation building was often messy and vulnerable to foreign intervention, the governing elite wanted to have free hands to conduct their policies in the knowledge that neighbours would refrain from interfering in their domestic affairs. In addition, smallest members such as Singapore, Brunei are consciously fearful of force and coercive measures from much bigger neighbours like Indonesia and Malaysia. In other words, ASEAN was established to ensure sovereignty remained firmly located at the national level.

As a result, non-interference became the cardinal principle of the organisation. Members were committed to the norm of non-use of force and non-confrontation, and they often shared a reluctance to institutionalise and legalise regional cooperation. They were in favour of informal and under-institutionalised forms of regional cooperation instead. In fact, the ASEAN process has been managed through consultations and consensus among top leaders.

All of these features, namely non-interefence, informality, minimal institutionalisation, consultation and consensus, non-use of force and non-confrontation have constituted what is called the ASEAN Way.

[edit] Meetings

[edit] ASEAN Summit

The organization holds meetings, known as the ASEAN Summit, where heads of government of each member meet to discuss and resolve regional issues, as well as to conduct other meetings with other countries outside of the bloc with the intention of promoting external relations.

The ASEAN Leaders' Formal Summit was first held in Bali, Indonesia in 1976. Its third meeting was held in Manila in 1987 and during this meeting, it was decided that the leaders would meet every five years.^[24] Consequently, the fourth meeting was held in Singapore in 1992 where the leaders again agreed to meet more frequently, deciding to hold the summit every three years.^[24] In 2001, it was decided to meet annually to address urgent issues affecting the region. Member nations were assigned to be the summit host in alphabetical order except in the case of Myanmar which dropped its 2006 hosting rights in 2004 due to pressure from the United States and the European Union.^[25]

The formal summit meets for three days. The usual itinerary is as follows:

• Leaders of member states would hold an internal organization meeting.
• Leaders of member states would hold a conference together with foreign ministers of the ASEAN Regional Forum.
• A meeting, known as ASEAN Plus Three, is set for leaders of three Dialogue Partners (People's Republic of China, Japan, South Korea)
• A separate meeting, known as ASEAN-CER, is set for another set of leaders of two Dialogue Partners (Australia, New Zealand).

During the fifth Summit in Bangkok, the leaders decided to meet "informally" between each formal summit:^[24]

[edit] East Asia Summit

The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a pan-Asian forum held annually by the leaders of 16 countries in East Asia and the region, with ASEAN in a leadership position. Russia has applied for membership and as of 2005, attends on observer status. The first summit was held in Kuala Lumpur on December 14, 2005 and subsequent meetings have been held after the annual ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting.

[edit] ASEAN Regional Forum

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is an informal multilateral dialogue in Asia Pacific region. As of July 2007, it is consisted of 27 participants. ARF objectives are to foster dialogue and consultation, and promote confidence-building and preventive diplomacy in the region.^[26] The ARF met for the first time in 1994. The current participants in the ARF are as follows: all ASEAN members, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, the People's Republic of China, the European Union, India, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Timor-Leste, United States and Sri Lanka.

[edit] Other meetings

Aside from the ones above, other regular^[27] meetings are also held.^[28] These include the annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting^[29] as well as other smaller committees, such as the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center.^[30] Meetings mostly focus on specific topics, such as defense^[27] or the environment,^[27][31] and are attended by Ministers, instead of heads of government.

[edit] ASEAN Plus Three

The ASEAN Plus Three is a meeting between ASEAN, the People's Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea, and is primarily held during each ASEAN Summit.

[edit] Asia-Europe Meeting

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is an informal dialogue process initiated in 1996, bringing together the European Union and the ASEAN Plus Three groupings.^[32]

[edit] ASEAN-Russia Summit

The ASEAN-Russia Summit is a meeting between leaders member states and the President of Russia.

[edit] Relations with United States

In recent years, the U.S. has not prioritized strong relations with ASEAN. In 2007, the U.S. upset the ten ASEAN leaders by calling off plans to attend the US-ASEAN summit planned for September 2007, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the founding of ASEAN and U.S.-ASEAN relations. Also, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) brings together 26 key regional leaders to discuss economic and trade issue. Since 2005, for the first time in the history of the ARF, the U.S. secretary of state has not personally attended, sending only a deputy. This has been interpreted as a contemptful U.S. attitude. ^[33]

Seen in the context of the shut out of the U.S. from the newly emerging East Asia Summit, whose member countries span much of the Asian continent and which did welcome Australia and New Zealand but not the U.S., and given the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's lack of co-operation with the U.S., some have seen a declining role or an invisibiliy of the U.S. in key Asia institutions.^[34]

[edit] ASEAN Free Trade Area

The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is an agreement by the member nations of ASEAN concerning local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries. The AFTA agreement was signed on January 28, 1992 in Singapore. When the AFTA agreement was originally signed, ASEAN had six members, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Vietnam joined in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997, and Cambodia in 1999. The latecomers have not fully met the AFTA's obligations, but they are officially considered part of the AFTA as they were required to sign the agreement upon entry into ASEAN, and were given longer time frames in which to meet AFTA's tariff reduction obligations.

[edit] Open Sky

The ASEAN Open Sky policy aims to liberalise air travel between member cities. The agreement was proposed by the ASEAN Air Transport Working Group and endorsed by the ASEAN Transport Ministers during the a meeting in Myanmar in October 2003.

The agreement will be implemented beginning January 1, 2009, with the air routes between capital cities of member countries to be liberalised within that year. This would then expand to cover other cities by 2015.

Singapore and Malaysia are in separate talks to open the Singapore/Kuala Lumpur route before 2009.

[edit] Cultural activities

The organization hosts cultural activities in an attempt to further integrate the region. These include sports and educational activities as well as writing awards. Examples of these include the ASEAN University Network and the Singapore-sponsored ASEAN Scholarship.

[edit] S.E.A. Write Award

The S.E.A. Write Award is a literary award given to Southeast Asian poets and writers annually since 1979. The award is either given for a specific work or as a recognition of an author's lifetime achievement. Works that are honored vary and have included poetry, short stories, novels, plays, folklore as well as scholarly and religious works. Ceremonies are held in Bangkok and is presided by a member of the Thai royal family.

[edit] ASAIHL

ASAIHL or the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning is a non-governmental organization founded in 1956 that strives to strengthen higher learning institutions, espescially in teaching, research, and public service, with the intention of cultivating a sense of regional identity and interdependence.

[edit] ASEAN Heritage Parks

ASEAN Heritage Parks^[35] is a list of nature parks launched 1984 and relaunched in 2004. It aims to protect the region's natural treasures. There are now 35 such protected areas, including th Tubbataha Reef Marine Park and the Kinabalu National Park.^[36].

[edit] List

[edit] ASEAN Scholarship

The ASEAN Scholarship is a scholarship program offered by Singapore to the 9 other ASEAN member states for secondary school, junior college, and university education. It covers accommodation, food, medical benefits & accident insurance, school fees, and examination fees.^[37].

[edit] ASEAN University Network

The ASEAN University Network (AUN) is a consortia of Southeast Asian universities. It was originally founded in November 1995 by 13 universities within the ASEAN member states. The membership of the consortia is currently 17 due to the enlargement of ASEAN in 1997 and 1999.

[edit] Sports

[edit] Southeast Asian Games

The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games is under regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supervision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia.

[edit] ASEAN Football Championship

The ASEAN Football Championship is a biennial international football competition organised by the ASEAN Football Federation, accredited by FIFA and contested by the national teams of Southeast Asia nations. It was inaugurated in 1996 as Tiger Cup, but after Asia Pacific Breweries terminated the sponsorship deal, "Tiger" was renamed "ASEAN".

[edit] ASEAN ParaGames

The ASEAN ParaGames is a biennial multi-sport event held after every Southeast Asian Games for athletes with physical disabilities. The games are participated by the 11 countries located in Southeast Asia. The games, patterned after the Paralympics, includes mobility disabilities, amputees, visual disabilities, and those with cerebral palsy.

[edit] Criticisms

Western countries have criticized ASEAN for being too "soft" in its approach to promoting human rights and democracy in the junta-led Myanmar.^[38] This has caused concern as the European Union, a potential trade partner, has refused to conduct free trade negotiations at a regional level for these political reasons.^[39] International observers view it as a "talk shop",^[40] which implies that the organization is "big on words but small on action".^[41]

During the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu, several militant groups staged anti-globalization and anti-Arroyo rallies.^[42] According to the militants, the agenda of economic integration would negatively affect industries in the Philippines and would cause thousands of Filipinos to lose their jobs.^[43] They also viewed the organization as "imperialistic" that threatens the country's sovereignty.^[43] A human rights lawyer from New Zealand was also present to protest about the human rights situation in the region in general.^[44]

[edit] Comparison