By Zhai Kun (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-09 07:28

The 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM), which opened on July 30 in Manila, the Philippines, raised the curtain on the organization's 40th anniversary celebrations. Foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN member countries unanimously agreed to designate August 8 "ASEAN Day" to promote the concept of regional integration.

On August 8, 1967, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand formed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has since welcomed Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia into its fold. East Timor, which declared independence in 2002, is also seeking to become an ASEAN member state.

After 40 years of highs and lows, ASEAN has emerged as the second most successful example of regional cooperation after the European Union. Today's ASEAN, while basking in the glory of success, is marching forward with the times by turning crisis into a driving force.

People often believe major powers control world affairs while minor nations hold little diplomatic sway. This mindset has prevented people from noticing minor countries' quest for power.

ASEAN fell into a slump in the last few years of the 20th century as a result of the 1997 financial crisis. In the 21st century, however, its regional status and influence has risen as its member nations' economies recovered. Its achievement in internal integration, the East Asian cooperation process and maintaining its balanced strategy with major powers also grabbed the world's attention. Take a look at the following facts:

ASEAN is changing our traditional perception of who has power.

The regional alliance's balanced strategy with major powers was set in motion when we still believed East and West Asia were key arenas of struggle for power among big nations. The US and Japan became so jealous of China's rising influence in East Asia that they rushed to offer more "carrots" to ASEAN members. Major powers have to meet specific conditions set down by ASEAN if they want to join the regional group's cooperation network and avoid being marginalized amid fierce competition.

The conditions include becoming a signatory of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC). The US does not want to sign TAC and therefore cannot attend the East Asian Summit (EAS). Russia already signed TAC, but ASEAN has refused to accept it with the excuse that "the economic and trade ties between the two sides are not yet close enough".

ASEAN is changing our traditional perception of countries pursuing wealth.

The average economic cooperation theory has it that, when a big country and a small one negotiate a bilateral free trade pact, the former usually plays the pusher while the other is expected to open its domestic markets accordingly.

For example, the US efforts to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement southward are aimed at forging systematic hegemony throughout the Americas. But ASEAN began working on regional integration 40 years ago and created a cooperation framework for East Asia 10 years ago with China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) rather than the first two only.

The three East Asian nations recognize and support ASEAN's leading role and are willing to jointly construct a future East Asia free trade zone on the basis of today's three separate 10+1 free trade area, namely the ASEAN-China, ASEAN-Japan and ASEAN-ROK free trade areas.

ASEAN is changing our traditional perception of countries seeking security.

During the Cold War, the Indochinese Peninsula was ravaged country after country, until three of them joined ASEAN. After the Cold War, ASEAN expanded to cover the whole Southeast Asia. ASEAN countries believe the traditional threats come mainly from the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan Straits and South China Sea. These are also the top sources of strength for ASEAN to execute its balanced strategy for engaging major powers.

That is why ASEAN established the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) as the sole platform for nearly 30 countries to discuss security issues in the Asia-Pacific region, including the US, Japan, Russia, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and ROK.

That is also why ASEAN hopes all major powers in the Asia-Pacific region join the TAC, which follows the principle of "resolving bilateral conflicts by peaceful means".

In the past, it was always the major powers that forced small countries to sign peace treaties, but today the latter have turned the table around as the major powers joined TAC on their own initiative to offer safeguards for small countries' security.

ASEAN also reflects the concept of a human security commonwealth. Faced with transnational non-traditional threats, ASEAN states are more vulnerable, feel more strongly their lack of national strength, need regional cooperation and help from the international community as they are worried about the erosion of their sovereignty more than ever.

This is why ASEAN has been looking hard for the center of balance between the nation, the region and the world. To do so, ASEAN decided in 2003 to build itself into a Southeast Asian security commonwealth by 2020. And it now enjoys a certain amount of initiative in pursuit of security.

ASEAN is changing our recognition of the international norm of behavior.

Think of the terms "peaceful coexistence" of the Cold-War era and "all-win" in the era of globalization. ASEAN member countries have already established "peaceful coexistence" and are now working together toward achieving "all-win" within and outside the region.

The so-called "ASEAN approach", which follows the principle of avoiding conflicts while seeking consensus, can steadily nurture regional awareness within the alliance and allow it to manoeuvre around major powers cautiously. ASEAN has created a set of international norms that big powers are willing to observe while formulating its own regional norm of behavior.

In 2003, heads of the 10 ASEAN member states decided to build the alliance into a regional commonwealth for economy, security, society and culture by 2020.

During this year's Cebu summit in the Philippines (ASEAN's 12th), they took a step further by reaching three historic decisions: the first is to form a regional economic commonwealth by 2015, five years earlier than originally planned.

The second is the passage of the ASEAN Charter Report to jumpstart the making of the ASEAN Charter. Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hopes the Charter will be ready in November.

The third is the passage of the ASEAN Convention on Counter Terrorism as part of the efforts to increase regional coordination and cooperation over counter terrorism.

These steps deal respectively with ASEAN's long-term plan, mechanism buildup and regional cooperation. The AMM held on July 30, on the other hand, was aimed at implementing decisions reached at past summit meetings and preparing for the next one at the end of the year.

The first is to fix the direction of Southeast Asia development. ASEAN nations must achieve joint strength on the basis of individual strength in order to take control of a region that was a battleground for competing major powers. Individual strengthening means the ASEAN nations must each speed up their own modernization while preserving national heritage, while joint strengthening stands for all members giving full play to collective strength through regional integration based on the alliance.

The second is to reinforce the alliance's power case. With 15 years of painstaking efforts following the end of Cold War, ASEAN has not only constructed its balanced strategy for engaging major powers on its own terms, but also maintained the leading position over regional cooperation process.

The third is to deal with all kinds of new challenges from both within and outside. ASEAN's 40 years of development and growth has been an exercise of constant self-adjustment in response to changes of internal and external situation to deal with various challenges.

Currently, challenges such as globalization, the structural changes in Asia's power layout caused by the rise of China and India, transnational non-traditional security problems like terrorism and internal troubles such as Myanmar all require ASEAN to resolve through further coordination of member relations and forward thinking about development.

To do so, it may have to do away with the outdated principles and practices and identifying and institutionalizing new principles and practices suited to the new situation. The suggestions by the ASEAN Expert Group about the ASEAN Charter reflect this trend.

The fourth is to beef up the assembly of ASEAN's leadership power.

Noises questioning ASEAN's leadership power have been rather persistent in recent years. ASEAN must first enhance its ability to solve its own problems if it wants to lead the region in the long run.

It must also up its coordinating ability, like playing the piano with all 10 fingers. Last but not least, it must make long-term plans to always maintain the initiative and continue to avoid being marginalized by exerting its limited influence efficiently.

From this perspective it appears ASEAN is enduring the sense of crisis brought by growing power rather than enjoying the enormous pride of being powerful. The integration of ASEAN comes with so many responsibilities that the fate and future of regional cooperation hinge on it. So much so it remains the right choice for China, Japan and ROK to maintain their support for ASEAN integration and help it keep East Asian cooperation headed in the right direction.

The author is a researcher with China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations

(China Daily 08/09/2007 page9)