Russia, ASEAN becoming close partners<\/p>\n
Dmitry Kosyrev, RIA Novosti, Moscow<\/p>\n
An unusual diplomatic situation is unfolding around the visit
\nof Russian President Vladimir Putin to Kuala Lumpur for the first
\never Russia-ASEAN summit on Dec. 13.<\/p>\n
Every year one of the 10 ASEAN capitals hosts an annual summit
\nof heads of ASEAN member countries followed by their meetings
\nwith leaders of the dialog partners, whose foreign ministers take
\npart in annual summer sessions. Russia has finally gained
\nadmittance to the exclusive circle.<\/p>\n
If we go 10 to 15 years back in time, we will see that Russia
\nneither took part in ASEAN summits nor had the status of a dialog
\npartner. In fact, there were virtually no relations with ASEAN
\napart from the diplomatic presence in most of the 10 member
\ncountries. In addition, the relations were strained and rife with
\nmisunderstanding and suspicions.<\/p>\n
The reasons for that were simple: In the early 1990s, Russia
\nwas just beginning to establish its new position in the world.
\nThe post-Communist country, having shrunk in size following the
\nbreakup of the Soviet Union, was paralyzed with a severe system
\ncrisis. Relations had to be built from scratch between Moscow and
\na group of countries located at a great distance from it.<\/p>\n
The task was made more difficult by the split within Southeast
\nAsia into Communist and anti-Communist blocks, while earlier the
\nformer USSR, like China, actively supported one of the blocks in
\nits conflict with the other.<\/p>\n
The border between the two regional groups (the boundary
\nbetween Thailand and its western neighbors, Laos and Cambodia,)
\nwas traditionally called \"the frontline,\" and Thailand itself was
\nviewed as \"a frontline country.\" From across the Mekong River
\nThailand fired at the Vietnamese hotel in which the author of
\nthis article stayed last summer.<\/p>\n
Today all Southeast Asian countries are ASEAN members, and
\nRussia, along with China, India and several other countries, will
\ntake part in the summit. Ironically, Russia has achieved the
\nstatus faster than other dialog partners who have a longer
\nhistory of contacts with Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
In addition, Moscow and the ASEAN members have been discussing
\nsince last summer the issue of whether President Putin will be
\nattending the East Asia summit in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 14, which
\nis to follow the first ASEAN-Russia high-level meeting.<\/p>\n
It is not clear at the moment what the East Asia summit will
\nbe like and how it will differ from the ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and
\nSouth Korea) meetings. The focus may be on developing a non-
\nconfrontational political philosophy that differs from the
\nposition of many of ASEAN's foreign partners. East and Southeast
\nAsia have their own economic interests and views on what the
\nworld should be like and which course of its development would
\nmeet the interests of the region's nations.<\/p>\n
These positions have the same importance as the interests of
\nunited Europe or North America. To preserve a country's national
\nidentity is a great art that requires a great deal of effort from
\npeople and nations. Kuala Lumpur will now become the platform
\nfrom which these interests will be defended.<\/p>\n
According to sources in the Russian government, Moscow's
\ninitial objective was to seek full-fledged membership of the new
\nforum. But it later became clear that despite Russia's favorable
\ngeographic position, the country could not become a member of the
\norganization because of its weak economy. However, the question
\nof whether Putin would be a guest speaker at the East Asian
\nsummit has been discussed.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the outcome, there is one lesson to be learned:
\nalong with China and India, Russia and the ASEAN group share
\ncertain opinions of the world. Moscow's vision of its place in
\nthe world is remarkably similar to that of ASEAN countries. This
\nsuggests that relations between Russia and Southeast Asia have
\nencouraging prospects.<\/p>\n
The Russian and ASEAN leaders are expected to sign a joint
\ndeclaration on enhanced and comprehensive partnership and to
\nadopt an action program on promoting cooperation between Russia
\nand ASEAN in 2005-2015.<\/p>\n
In Kuala Lumpur President Putin may speak about a number of
\nfundamental issues essential to Russia and ASEAN. First, good
\npolitical relations should lead to successful business
\ncooperation. There are two directions in which efforts need to be
\nmade: Technology and tourism.<\/p>\n
Russian technologies can be used in Southeast Asia, but in
\norder to put plans into practice, the governments of member
\ncountries and the organization itself have to work toward this
\nobjective. Tourism can now become \"a factory of friendship\"
\nbetween our peoples boosting a large number of business and other
\ncontacts.<\/p>\n
Russia and ASEAN can also provide support for each other in
\nthe sphere of foreign policy. Moscow has been trying to
\nconsolidate contacts through its own \"Central Asian ASEAN\" it set
\nup with China -- the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.<\/p>\n
The second direction concerns culture in its broadest sense.
\nLike ASEAN member countries, Russia is a multinational and
\nmultifaith country. The experience of people who come from
\ndifferent cultures but share one region or one country could be
\nof great benefit to the world at large. This can also be
\ndiscussed at length in Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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