Towards an ASEAN Community Guest Lecture

Transcription

1 Towards an ASEAN Community Guest Lecture Seoul National University Department of Geography

2 Towards an ASEAN Community Regional cooperation The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Towards an ASEAN Community

3 Regional Cooperation States which share common borders or are geographically close often find they: Have security issues in common Need to work together to create transport links Can benefit from reducing barriers to trade and the cost of trading together Have problems in common (people and drug smuggling, sharing river borders, pollution)

4 Regional Cooperation States in the same region also generally have similar cultures, religions and norms It is easier to build a regional identity and network than a global identity Regional structures can be very different in different parts of the world Compared to European regional organizations, Asian organizations tend to be more informal, less legalistic and less intrusive in the affairs of member states

5 Regional Cooperation Regional cooperation and integration are generally concerned primarily with three sets of issues: Trade and economic cooperation (EU, NAFTA, Mercosur, APEC,etc) Security (NATO, ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asian Summit, etc) Development and social cooperation (ADB, ESCAP, etc)

6 Regional Cooperation in Southeast Asia This pattern is true for regionalism in Southeast Asia: Economic integration - to knit the region together through trade and investment so that intra-regional rivalry would be unthinkable Security and political cooperation to try to ensure that through collective action the region is kept free of great power rivalry Development cooperation to bridge the development divide between countries with very different levels of income

7 Towards an ASEAN Community Regional cooperation The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Towards an ASEAN Community

8 Regional Cooperation in Southeast Asia - ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed in 1967 to address these three issues At the time of its creation, ASEAN had just five member countries: Indonesia Malaysia The Philippines Singapore Thailand

9 ASEAN Bangkok Declaration Accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavors. Promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law. 1967

10 ASEAN Five more countries were invited to join ASEAN in the following years: Brunei Darussalam joined in 1984 when it became independent Then in the 1990 s came the new ASEANs : Vietnam (1995) Laos and Myanmar (1997) Cambodia (1999)

11 ASEAN

12 ASEAN Today ASEAN has: 10 member countries A combined population of 625 million A combined GDP of US$2,395 billion Average per capita GDP of US$3,830 If it was a single entity, ASEAN would be; The 3 rd largest by population in the world The 7 th largest economy in the world

13 ASEAN DIVERSE Home to major religions Rich culture Courtesy of ASEAN National Tourism Organisations Courtesy of ASEAN National Tourism Organisations Vast natural resources Courtesy of ASEAN National Tourism Organisations

14 ASEAN: A Snapshot (1) Population (millions) Area (sq km) GDP (per capita, USD) Index of Economic Freedom Brunei 0.4 5,265 54, Cambodia ,515 2, Indonesia ,811,569 5, Lao PDR ,800 3, Malaysia ,657 17, Myanmar ,508 1, Philippines ,170 4, Singapore , Thailand ,890 9, Vietnam ,070 4, South Korea ,920 33,

15 ASEAN: A Snapshot (2) Labour Force % % in agriculture % in industry % in services Unemployment Human Development Index Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Lao PDR Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore* Thailand Vietnam South Korea

16 ASEAN s Dialogue Partners ASEAN has invited 10 other countries into a special partnership status. These are ASEAN s Dialogue Partners: Australia Canada China European Union India Japan New Zealand Russia South Korea United States of America

17 ASEAN s Economic Partners In addition to the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreements between the 10 member states, ASEAN has signed free trade agreements with: China (PRC) Japan South Korea India Australia and New Zealand

18 The network of world trade by region Source: calculated from WTO data, 2012

19 ASEAN Organization ASEAN holds an annual Summit (meeting of heads of government, ie. Presidents and Prime Ministers) A large number of other meetings of ASEAN ministers, including Foreign Affairs, Health, Defence, Transport, Education, Finance, etc Annual meetings with each dialogue partner A huge number of meetings of ASEAN officials

20 Towards an ASEAN Community Regional cooperation The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Towards an ASEAN Community

21 Towards an ASEAN Community Bali Concord II An ASEAN Community shall be established comprising three pillars, namely political and security cooperation, economic cooperation, and socio-cultural cooperation 2003

22 Towards an ASEAN Community The aims of this Community: The free flow of goods, services, investments and capital within the 10 countries to improve economic competitiveness Intensify political cooperation to strengthen peace and security Reduce poverty and socio-economic disparities Respond effectively to trans-national threats to human security and new threats of the 21 st century Harness human resources to benefit from the rich human diversity in the ASEAN region

23 Towards an ASEAN Community The ASEAN Community has 3 major components (called pillars): ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Each pillar has its own Blueprint setting out the steps required by each member country to create this Community

24 Towards an ASEAN Community The ASEAN Political-Security Community: Is all about peace, harmony and goodwill Is almost entirely an inter-governmental activity Primary mechanisms are the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) with 27 participating countries and the East Asian Summit with 18 members Aim of the ASEAN 10 is to retain ASEAN centrality and chairmanship of all dialogue concerning security issues throughout Asia

25 Towards an ASEAN Community The ASEAN Economic Community: Is all about helping the ASEAN 10 economies to grow stronger, richer and more resilient Is driven largely by ASEAN governments doing the bidding of their largest companies Again, seeks to retain ASEAN centrality in new regional economic integration architecture But ASEAN s Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) faces stiff challenges from other regional initiatives the TPP and FTAAP

26 Towards an ASEAN Community The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community: Is all about building a people-based ASEAN community and identity This caring and sharing society aims to improve the region s welfare through initiatives in education, health, humanitarian assistance, and women s and children s rights issues But most Southeast Asians remain fiercely nationalistic and predominantly mono-lingual

27 Towards an ASEAN Community What then are the prospects for this ASEAN Community and how will it compare with the European Union? ASEAN governments are optimistic about their new Community Big businesses are also generally very supportive But civil society and small businesses are much less enthusiastic

28 Towards an ASEAN Community In Asia, a lower priority is attached to transparency, accountability and binding commitments ASEAN, for example, has no effective dispute settlement mechanism even for trade disputes in AFTA The norm in Asia is non-interference Therefore the rights and powers of individual states are not reduced significantly by regional cooperation

29 Towards an ASEAN Community Regionalism in Asia has not achieved, and probably will not achieve, the same levels of integration and cooperation that we see in the European Union Regional problems can go unresolved for a lengthy period More importantly, most attention has been on inter-governmental agreements and work plans with much less attention given to effective implementation of these agreements and work plans

30 Towards an ASEAN Community The European approach to the integration of poorer members from eastern and southern Europe was serious and well-funded through initiatives such as the: European Regional Development Fund The European Social Fund The Cohesion Fund But Southeast Asia s distrust of new regional institutions and of a rules-based approach to integration has effectively starved ASEAN s three poorest members of funding from the wider region

31 Towards an ASEAN Community The ASEAN Community is likely to remain a diplomatic community with increasingly important economic ties It is unlikely to have any significant impact on the lives of most people The ten member states will want to retain their diverse political, economic and legal systems Convergence in their levels of income and development appears unlikely in the short term

32 Conclusion