Expanded ASEAN is positive for the region

Expanded ASEAN is positive for the region

JAKARTA (JP): Political scientists and observers from the
Asia-Pacific region said yesterday that the planned expansion of
the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a
positive development for the region, provided it is carried out
in a pragmatic way.

"The current drive by the Southeast Asian people themselves to
be one Southeast Asia of ten countries is really a milestone in
the region's history," Hasjim Djalal, Indonesian ambassador-at-
large for the Law of the Sea and Maritime Affairs, said at a
workshop held by the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS).

The workshop, held to highlight CSIS's silver anniversary, was
called "One Southeast Asia in a New Regional and International
Setting".

ASEAN, a regional political and economic grouping formed in
1967 to act as a buffer against communist expansion, currently
has seven members: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the
Philippines, Brunei, and Vietnam.

ASEAN's membership will be extended to ten countries with the
inclusion of Cambodia and Laos next year and Myanmar later. The
average economic growth of ASEAN's current members ranges between
6 and 8.5 percent.

The admission of Vietnam, a communist country, into ASEAN last
year was proof of the association's constructive and positive
role in maintaining peace and stability in the region, Hasjim
said.

Political analyst Liao Shaolian of China's Institute of
Southeast Asian Studies of Xiamen University said that since
ASEAN has provided a better example of flexible regional
cooperation than any other international organizations, ASEAN
could play a better role in the triangular geopolitical strategy
between Asian powers like China and Japan, and the United States.

Although most speakers agreed on the positive developments the
association has achieved, a number of participants also voiced
worries that ASEAN, with its extended membership, may not achieve
as much as it did before, and that the economic growth of some
member countries may slow down.

John Bresnan, professor of the School of International and
Public Affairs at Columbia University, New York, said that since
economic growth has transformed each ASEAN member country's
policies and interests, new challenges and problems have arisen
and new strategies are needed.

Bresnan said that ASEAN needs thorough understanding and keen
observation by foreign policy analysts.

These political analysts should be "well-equipped and
knowledgeable of the developments in other member countries," he
said.

Masahide Shibuzawa, the director of the East-West seminar,
said Japan would welcome "ASEAN 10" as long as it plays a
positive role in the region.

Shibuzawa said that bilateral ties between China and Japan are
good now, but "in the event that relations between Japan and
China turn sour," Tokyo might ask ASEAN to face Beijing.

He also said that ASEAN, as a regional power, could also offer
the new security environment the U.S. has been looking for
following the end of the Cold War.

Jusuf Wanandi, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of CSIS, said
ASEAN could play a bigger role in promoting peace and security as
well as equity and social justice in the region.

"ASEAN should also try to provide what the UN could not
provide, by implementing collective security systems like
peacekeeping, not only here, but also in other parts of the
world," he added.

ASEAN's role in helping achieve a comprehensive peaceful
solution to the Cambodian armed conflicts in the last decade was
widely praised.

One of the participants from the Philippines, however,
reminded the workshop that extension of membership in the
association means also that ASEAN will have more responsibilities
and obligations.

Soedjati Djiwandono, member of the CSIS Supervisory Board,
cautioned that the planned extension of membership should be
carried out in a pragmatic way and not at the expense of any
member's national interest.

ASEAN's achievements and successes were mainly due to the
members' economic strength and accomplishments, he added. (ego)