ASEAN expands due to worries over China
ASEAN expands due to worries over China
By Rene Pastor
SINGAPORE (Reuter): Southeast Asia has embraced international
pariah Myanmar despite strenuous Western objections partly due to
rising apprehension over the growth of China's economic and
military might, security experts said on Wednesday.
They said trepidation among leaders of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that China's robust growth will
boost its military prowess was a vital factor in the decision to
accept Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia into the group.
The seven members of ASEAN agreed last weekend the three
countries would be admitted at a July summit in Kuala Lumpur.
"You cannot discount the possibility that it (China) will
exercise the rights of a Middle Kingdom," Carolina Hernandez,
president of the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies
in the Philippines, told Reuters.
She said during a one-day conference of defense experts there
were lingering doubts "about the possible hegemonic ambitions of
China" in the region especially since it has expressed its "clear
intention of modernizing its army".
"With 10 countries, we have enough resilience and enough
capacity to also determine our own future and face the pressures
from anywhere, including China," said Jusuf Wanadi, chairman of
the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Indonesia.
"I think that's a major consideration," said Carlyle Thayer,
the head of the Department of Politics in University College at
the University of New South Wales in Australia.
"In the case of Myanmar, it could be a loose cannon on the
deck that is being supplied by China. ASEAN would very much
prefer to lash Myanmar down by at least getting it into ASEAN
than leaving it on the outside," Thayer said.
ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, decided on a date
for expansion soon after the United States imposed sanctions on
Myanmar, where ruling generals had just clamped down on the pro-
democracy opposition.
China and Myanmar have grown closer over the last few years,
causing concern in ASEAN. They signed an economic and trade
agreement soon after the U.S. sanctions were imposed.
Beijing's claims to all islands and reefs in the South China
Sea has landed it in several disputes with ASEAN members.
Hernandez said distrust of China in the region was rising.
While saying it would not "undertake unilateral action that can
cause tension and destabilize the region, (Beijing is)
undertaking a creeping occupation of these islands", she said.
Manila and Beijing were locked in an angry dispute recently
over Scarborough Shoal, a group of rocks barely visible at high
tide and the construction by China of facilities at Mischief Reef
in a part of the Spratlys claimed by the Philippines.
Wanandi said China "still has to learn how to behave" in the
region.
"But I don't think, in the longer term, China will be a bully
at all. With her opening up and her integration into the society
regionally and globally, she will become an important and a
responsible partner," he said.
The experts said ASEAN felt Yangon must be weaned away from
China and the feeling overpowered qualms over Myanmar's internal
politics.
"It's important in the view of ASEAN countries to have Myanmar
included so that the resources and capabilities of Myanmar do not
get under the control of only one power and you know China is a
rising power," Hernandez said.
"The purpose of ASEAN is not to bring in nice guys into a
club. The purpose of ASEAN is to live at peace among ourselves,"
said Noordin Sopiee, chairman of the Institute of Strategic and
International Studies in Malaysia.
Said Hernandez: "We don't want to be told by Western powers on
what to do. We feel we have earned a right to play an independent
role in the region."