Feb. 5, 2024, 7:58 a.m.
(Photo: ukrainian.cri.cn)
The average European perception of the world is characterized by the view that there is nothing of political, intellectual, or cultural significance to be found outside of Europe. This worldview has been imposed for centuries, but now its fallacy is becoming more and more obvious. The American-European dominance remains in the twentieth century, and new actors are entering the scene. In the series of Intent's publications on the activities of international organizations, we will consider the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), formed from former outsiders of the "third world".
General characteristics of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Conflicts of ASEAN member states
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (hereinafter - ASEAN) is an economic and political international organization that unites the countries of Southeast Asia. The main priority of ASEAN is joint economic development, but its interests also include social progress, cultural development and regional stability. The organization consists of ten countries. ASEAN is headquartered in Jakarta.
The ASEAN headquarters in Jakarta. Photo: Photo.
ASEAN was founded on August 8, 1967, when the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand signed the Bangkok Declaration. In the two decades following the end of World War II, the vast majority of European colonies in Asia gained independence, so the organization's emergence to some extent marked the beginning of a new phase in the region's history. In the 1960s, there were clashes between some Southeast Asian countries. By forming ASEAN, the founding states pledged to respect the sovereignty of others and also tried to defend themselves against the communist threat. Four countries joined ASEAN in the 1990s. The last to do so was Cambodia in 1999. Among the countries of Southeast Asia, only East Timor is not a member of the organization.
ASEAN member states on a map of the region. Infographic: freepic
ASEAN has a flag filled with symbolism. The colors on the flag - blue, red, white, and yellow - represent the main colors on the flags of the organization's member states. Blue represents peace and stability, red represents courage and dynamism, white represents purity and yellow represents prosperity. The circle in the center symbolizes unity. The joined together sheaves of rice indicate the number of member states living in friendship and solidarity.
The ASEAN flag. Photo: ukrinform.ua
The official anthem of ASEAN is called "The Way of Asia". According to the organization's website, the anthem expresses the unity of the member states and strengthens the sense of identity and belonging among the region's residents.
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The ASEAN anthem. Video: ASEAN Secretariat
The ASEAN motto is "One Vision, One Identity, One Community".
The Summit is the highest political body of the organization. Heads of state or government of ASEAN member states are invited to attend. The summit must be held twice a year. Among the functions of the summit are: decision-making on key issues for the organization, responding to emergencies by taking appropriate measures, and appointing the Secretary General.
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The summit opens in Jakarta on September 5, 2023. Video: Secretariat of the President
The Coordination Council (hereinafter referred to as the CoC) is the body responsible for preparing the work of the summit. It consists of the foreign ministers of the member states and meets twice a year. The COC coordinates the implementation of the agreements and decisions of the Summit, and submits reports from the communities to the Summit.
Within the structure, three communities have been created that correspond to the key areas of ASEAN's work: political and security, economic, and socio-cultural.
In order to coordinate the work of all ASEAN bodies, the principle of chairmanship was established, according to which the organization is headed by one of the member states each year in alphabetical order. The presiding country leads the work of the summit and other bodies. In 2024, Laos holds the ASEAN chairmanship.
The chief official of ASEAN is the Secretary-General, who is elected for a five-year term. Since January 1, 2023, this position has been held by Cambodian official Kao Kim Horn. He became the first ASEAN Secretary-General from Cambodia.
ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Horn. Photo: Wikipedia
Political and security direction. In 2013, the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters entered into force. The agreement was supposed to strengthen ASEAN's ability to fight transnational crimes and increase the effectiveness of legal cooperation. It should be noted that the Strait of Malacca and neighboring regions are currently one of the main centers of maritime piracy in the world.
In 2012, ASEAN adopted the Declaration on Human Rights. However, in this aspect, some member states have serious questions. For example, in the press freedom ranking of the international organization Reporters Without Borders, Vietnam ranks 178th out of 180 countries analyzed. After the military coup in 2021, Myanmar also ranks low in any rankings. In particular, in the Freedom House Global Freedom Index, the country has 9 points out of 100 and the status of "not free".
In 1995, the ASEAN countries signed the Bangkok Agreement, according to which Southeast Asia was declared a nuclear-weapon-free zone. Such zones exist in four other regions of the world: South America and the Caribbean, the South Pacific, Africa and Central Asia.
Economic direction. In 1992, in Singapore, the ASEAN member states signed an agreement on the establishment of a free trade area. Later, new members of the organization joined the agreement. In 2020, in Hanoi, 10 ASEAN member states and five of their key trading partners - Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, and South Korea - signed an agreement to create the world's largest free trade area, which at the time accounted for a third of global GDP.
The ASEAN planned to create a single internal market by the end of 2015, which would provide for four freedoms: free flow of goods, services, skilled labor and capital. However, some of the provisions necessary for the project remained uncoordinated, so the deadline was postponed to 2025.
Tourism is one of the key areas of ASEAN cooperation. Member states began working together in the tourism industry in the 1970s. In 1981, the ASEAN Tourism Forum was established, where government representatives can connect with the private sector and NGOs to promote ASEAN as a single tourist destination.
Socio-cultural area. Poverty has been and remains a serious problem in Southeast Asia, especially in rural areas. However, significant progress has been made in the fight against poverty: from 1990 to 2015, the number of poor people decreased from 47 to 15 percent.
ASEAN countries hold joint sports competitions. In particular, the ASEAN Football Championship has been held since 1996. Competitions are held between the member states' national teams every two years.
The first Southeast Asian Games were held in 1959 and were a kind of local analog of the Olympic Games. Later, the competition changed its name to the Southeast Asian Games and is held every two years.
The ASEAN countries boast long cultural and historical traditions, which they try to use in various projects. Since 2010, the ASEAN City of Culture project has been running, in which one of the ASEAN cities is chosen as a cultural center for various events every 2-3 years. Music, literary, and cultural festivals are also held on a regular basis.
Disputed territories in the South China Sea. Disputes over territories in the South China Sea date back to the twentieth century. Currently, six countries are directly involved in the territorial conflict - China, Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. However, other states also intervene from time to time. The conflict is centered around two groups of islands - the Paracel Islands and the Spratly archipelago. The region is valuable for several reasons: 1) it is a zone of global trade routes; 2) there are huge oil and gas deposits under the seabed; 3) because of intensive fishing on an economic level. It is not surprising that the rivalry periodically escalates into confrontation with the destruction of boats and loss of life. Fishermen are often the victims of the confrontation. In particular, in 2015, Indonesia emphasized that any foreign fishing boats in its waters would be destroyed. On May 21, 2015 alone, several dozen Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Philippine fishing boats were destroyed.
In 2023, there was a certain escalation of the conflict. In August 2023, there was a clash between China and the Philippines around the Scarborough Reef, where Chinese coast guard ships blocked a civilian Philippine boat. In the same month, China released new geographical maps on which it "seized" the territory of a number of neighboring countries, including Russia, India, and some ASEAN members - the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. A little later, ASEAN member states conducted joint military exercises around the Indonesian Natuna Islands, which allegedly went to China on the newly created maps.
Coup in Myanmar. In February 2021, a military coup took place in Myanmar, which caused concern among other ASEAN member states. In April, at a meeting in Jakarta, the leaders of the countries issued a joint statement in which, in particular, they addressed the new leadership of Myanmar with a five-point proposal. The essence of the proposal was to end the violence and start a peaceful dialogue between the government and opposition forces. Myanmar's leaders did not fulfill most of the agreement, and as a result, ASEAN stopped inviting the country's representatives to the organization's summits.
Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar, February 8, 2021. Photo: Wikipedia
In 2018, Ukraine applied to ASEAN to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, but the organization did not respond for a long time. In October 2021, the Center for ASEAN Studies was opened at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
The opening of the Center for ASEAN Studies in Ukraine. Photo: adastra.org.ua
After the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, ASEAN member states found themselves in a difficult situation, as the organization signed a statement of strategic partnership with Russia in 2018. Cambodia and Singapore co-sponsored a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia's aggression. Moreover, Singapore imposed unilateral sanctions against Russia. The Philippines also openly condemned Russia's invasion. Other ASEAN countries either reacted with restraint or supported Russia.
In June 2022, Ukraine reapplied to the ASEAN Secretariat and in November, at the summit in Cambodia, signed an instrument of accession to the Treaty. After the signing of the Treaty, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Indonesia was appointed as our country's representative to ASEAN.
For a long time, Ukraine had been paying attention only to Europe, ignoring other regions of the world. However, after the full-scale invasion of Russia, it became obvious that Ukraine had to strengthen its diplomatic component in search of any support. Southeast Asia is an important and rapidly developing region, and its credibility in the world is growing. Ukraine has diplomatic relations with all ASEAN countries, but not all of them have ambassadors and embassies. In the summer of 2022, Ukraine had ambassadors only in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore, with the ambassador to Singapore serving as the ambassador to Brunei. Malaysia and Thailand had embassies of Ukraine, but their heads were not appointed. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines had neither embassies nor ambassadors.
ASEAN is a group of habitual outsiders that decided to come together to end their failures. And it should be emphasized that the countries of Southeast Asia have made significant progress on this path. Former European colonies have stopped quarreling with each other and focused on economic prosperity. From 2011 to 2020, the average annual growth rate of the ASEAN economy reached 4.4%. By 2022, ASEAN was the third largest economy in Asia after China and Japan. A significant achievement was the creation of the world's largest free trade area, which was joined by Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan and South Korea.
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ASEAN positions itself as a monolithic entity with the slogan "One Vision, One Identity, One Community," but this aspect is quite controversial. Southeast Asia is one of the most diverse regions of the world in terms of nationality and culture. ASEAN was founded on the principle of maximum respect for the sovereignty of individual countries. That is, the organization cannot interfere in the internal affairs of its members, has no coercive mechanisms to promote the necessary decisions, trying to resolve all issues by consensus. Obviously, reaching consensus by ten quite different countries is a rather difficult process. ASEAN is making efforts to create a sense of unity because the large structure increases the authority of individual member states and makes it easier for them to promote their own interests. Among the achievements of ASEAN is the fact that its member states have never fought among themselves, although in the 60s and 70s of the XX century the region was the epicenter of a sharp geopolitical struggle. However, relations between the countries are not without conflict. In particular, there are constant disputes in the South China Sea.
Currently, Southeast Asia is one of the sites of the US-China confrontation. Of course, the obvious point of tension is Taiwan, but the struggle is taking place on a more complex level. China is the dominant power in Asia and is constantly trying to increase its influence both economically and diplomatically, and not shying away from physical pressure. This trend does not suit powerful regional players such as India, Japan, and South Korea. They are making efforts to slow down China's expansion. The latter two countries are cooperating with the United States on this front. The Americans are trying to recruit allies in Southeast Asia by offering material and political support, as well as protection from the potential Chinese threat. However, most countries in the region are in no hurry to make a choice between the two vectors of power, which generally promise more economic prospects.
Ukraine should have stopped looking at its reflection in the European mirror long ago and started establishing effective diplomatic relations. It seems unbelievable that in the 21st century a country of 40 million people has embassies in not all countries of the world. Obviously, poor diplomacy is one of the reasons for Ukraine's problems. Turning the tables on quality diplomacy is especially important in times of war and in the context of current geopolitical transformations. At the same time, we should constantly keep in mind that the role of the Global South is growing right before our eyes.
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