ASEAN’s security needs mature involvement from great powers

By Ei Sun Oh Source:Global Times Published: 2013-9-3 21:23:01

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT



The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) owes its inception to the political and security needs of the region in the turbulent 1960s.

The Vietnam War was raging and poised to engulf the rest of Southeast Asia. Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines had just emerged from a series of protracted border conflicts. It was strongly felt then that a regional platform for effective dialogue, pragmatic conciliation and also collective security was sorely needed, hence the birth of ASEAN.

It is therefore particularly ironic that over the years, while ASEAN has made leaps and bounds in its economic and sociocultural pillars, with the shining example of the forthcoming ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, its political-security pillar has witnessed only modest progress.

Partly to correct this uneven trend, ASEAN leaders decided to invite major powers from around the region to join ASEAN defense ministers in what has come to be known as the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus).

The recent ADMM-Plus has just concluded in Brunei, and among those present were Chinese Minister of National Defense Chang Wanquan and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.

The outcomes of the meeting were predictable enough: renewed calls for capacity-building through wider and deeper interactions and interoperability among the militaries concerned. But most importantly, the Brunei ADMM-Plus reaffirms the crucial concept of "ASEAN centrality" in regional affairs, security included.

Nevertheless, subtly but persistently omnipresent during this triennial, soon to become biennial, regional defense summit in Brunei were the conspicuous phantoms of tensions on the South China Sea, as well as the fleeting shadows of Sino-US interplay. Moreover, the phantoms and the shadows often coalesced into one.

For its own set of reasons, a preference for bilateral instead of multilateral negotiations being one, China would not like to see the South China Sea disputes assume the top of the Brunei ADMM-Plus agenda. However, the US representatives appeared to push for a prominent role for South China Sea discussions during the same meeting. 

Hagel formally launched his salvo during the second day of the Brunei ADMM-Plus. He decried the ineffectiveness of actions at sea "to advance territorial claims,"and thought that they "increase the risk of confrontation, undermine regional stability and dim the prospects for diplomacy."

At first hearing, Hagel's observations sounded fair and realistic enough, and were in line with the modern notion of peaceful coexistence. However, a closer examination of a series of announcements by Hagel himself during his visits to Southeast Asian nations immediately preceding and following the Brunei ADMM-Plus would unfortunately render his otherwise lofty words hollow and perhaps even hypocritical.

Earlier in Malaysia, Hagel made public a significant funding increase of over 50 percent for military training and education specifically earmarked for Southeast Asia. In Jakarta, right before the Brunei ADMM-Plus, Hagel announced the sale of Apache attack helicopters to Indonesia.

And stopping by Manila on his way back to the US, Hagel discussed a framework agreement with his Filipino hosts "that would allow US forces to operate on Philippine military bases and in Philippine territory and waters" and expressed his support for the Philippines' "defense modernization agenda."

This recipe for heightened militarization of Southeast Asia by the US frankly does not tally with Hagel's remarks during the Brunei ADMM-Plus. If truly implemented, it would itself "increase the risk of confrontation, undermine regional stability and dim the prospects for diplomacy."

For one, the already tense situation in South China Sea would be further exacerbated, with the risk of saber-rattling becoming menacingly real. 

Right after the Brunei ADMM-Plus, China convened a special meeting in Beijing with the ASEAN foreign ministers to commemorate the 10th anniversary of China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership.

Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said that one individual position should not replace that of ASEAN. This statement is reassuring for ASEAN countries, as from their point of view it confirms China's willingness to engage its ASEAN neighbors in a comprehensive manner and not be overshadowed by South China Sea matters alone, besides reaffirming the centrality of ASEAN. 

Both sides did put words into actions, by announcing plans to upgrade their free trade agreement. Increased trade will surely foster peaceful friendship between the two sides.

ASEAN members, together with their partners such as the US and China, must pick up the share of hard work to harness the positive spirit that can shape a stable and prosperous Southeast Asia that is crucial for the healthy recovery of the world economy.

The author is a senior fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn



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