ASEAN gearing up for future challenges

ASEAN gearing up for future challenges

Kavi Chongkittavorn, The Nation, Asia News Network/Bangkok

ASEAN is moving forward to strengthen its identity, despite
uncertainties and divergences among member countries. To do so,
the group must cope with difficult future challenges posed by
external and regional exigencies in a more complex world. ASEAN
members may have to change some of their habits and mind-sets.
But can they?

In the months to come, the international community will find
out. When ASEAN leaders meet their counterparts from Japan,
China, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand for the
inaugural East Asian Summit (EAS) on Dec. 14 in Kuala Lumpur,
they will be entering an uncharted sea.

Often asked is whether East Asia can become a place for more
strategic dialogue or if an East Asian Community can be
established.

When Japan proposed the idea of an East Asian Community three
years ago, it envisaged a much bigger community-building process
that would link the region with the broader Asia-Pacific: The
participation of Australia and New Zealand as well as India would
complement this idea. Yet as the discussions grew thick and the
EAS loomed closer on the horizon, it became clear that such
grandiose community-building in the broader East Asia region
would not be possible.

At first, hopes were high that ASEAN would be more
accommodating in allowing non-ASEAN EAS founders to do more and
in the process gradually transform the EAS into a region-wide
forum for community-building.

But ASEAN leaders will again reiterate that the much-heralded
EAS should be just a strategic dialogue forum with a loose
structure and no fixed agenda. They will not speak of
establishing a secretariat, as Malaysia has suggested. ASEAN will
lead and chair the future meetings, very much to the chagrin of
Japan. In a nutshell, ASEAN will be calling the shots, as it
always has done in the ASEAN Regional Forum.

ASEAN leaders see the EAS as an Asian-type G-8 meeting, which
will take up specific themes or issues, including invitations of
specific guests. For example in the past year China and India
were invited to join in G-8 discussions.

To reaffirm ASEAN's position, ASEAN leaders will sign the
Declaration on the ASEAN Plus Three Summit one day ahead of their
EAS meeting. The document will make sure that the process that
began in 1992 continues. New ASEAN members have been demanding
that the ASEAN meeting with China, Japan and South Korea be the
main driving force and not be diluted in any way by the new
forum.

At the summit, a group of eminent persons will be beginning
the preparations for the drafting of a constitution for ASEAN.
The group will study future scenarios for ASEAN beyond the
current action plan for 2020. Whatever the group agrees to will
be reflected in the ASEAN charter. Five of the core ASEAN members
have already applied to be part of the group.

The group is expected to complete a charter within a year.
Already a draft has been completed by the ASEAN Secretariat in
Jakarta. It encompasses important elements found in all ASEAN
documents, including action plans.

In recent years ASEAN states have realized that they have to
work closer together to tackle common problems, especially
serious cross-border issues such as terrorism, haze, people- and
drug-smuggling, and contagious diseases such as bird flu and
Sars. The charter will facilitate cooperation on such issues, and
at the top of the agenda will be agreement on the ASEAN
Convention on Counter-Terrorism, which will allow speedy
extradition of persons involved in terrorist acts.

Through increased cooperation, some of the key ASEAN members,
such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, hope
that the member countries will talk less about the non-
interference principle and opt for practical approaches. The
discreet pressure from ASEAN governments and MPs on Burma was
cited as a good example. As host of the AES, Malaysia has an
ambitious plan to turn ASEAN into a hub of globalization and
engagement with major powers. Not long ago Prime Minister
Abdullah Badawi said he would like to see ASEAN be more open and
down to earth. He is now working to make sure that this happens.

At the summit, Malaysia has scheduled a 15-minute meeting
between the representatives from ASEAN civil-society
organizations and the ASEAN leaders. It will be the first such
major encounter, underscoring the host's desire to make ASEAN
less elitist. There are at least 50 non-government organizations
registered with ASEAN, but only a few, such as ASEAN-ISIS and the
ASEAN University Network, are recognized and enjoy regular
contact with ASEAN leaders.

One of the greatest challenges ASEAN faces is how to
restructure the future of ASEAN-China relations. Early this year
a group of eminent persons was set up to prepare a report to be
presented to ASEAN leaders at the Kuala Lumpur summit. Likely to
be recommended in the report is the idea that ASEAN should figure
out how the grouping can use strong ASEAN-China relations to
attract dialogue partners like the US and EU so that these blocks
too can forge closer ties with ASEAN.