Association of Southeast Asian Nations |
Map of Southeast Asia, showing ASEAN and its neighbors
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political, economic, and cultural
organization of countries located in Southeast Asia. Founded in
1967, its aim is to foster cooperation and mutual assistance among members. The countries
meet annually every November in summits.
Members
The current member countries of ASEAN are:
Papua New Guinea has observer status in the ASEAN.
The ASEAN also conducts dialogue meetings with other countries and an organization, collectively known as the ASEAN
dialogue partners. They are Australia, Canada, the People's Republic of
China, North Korea, South
Korea, the United States, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Russia, and the European Union.
ASEAN includes about 8% of the world's population and in 2003 it had a combined GDP of about US$700 billion (roughly equivalent to South Korea) and this GDP was growing at an average rate of around 4% p.a. The
economies of member countries of ASEAN are diverse, although its major products include electronic goods, oil and wood.
The ASEAN countries are culturally diverse and they include the third largest number of English speakers in any other geo-political entity (after the US and UK), around 50 million, mostly in the Philippines. ASEAN includes more Muslims than any other geo-political entity -- about a quarter of a billion, mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia. Other
main religions of the various peoples in the region include large numbers of Buddhists and the predominantly Catholic Philippines.
They include some of the most repressive and some of the most democratic
governments in the world, with economic policies ranging from liberal and democratic to communist and socialist. ASEAN includes governments considered
corrupt and governments considered transparent.
The ASEAN Regional Forum
The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is an informal multilateral dialogue of 23 members that seeks to address
security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. The ARF met for the first time in 1994. The members include the 10 member states of
the ASEAN, the observer Papua New Guinea, and the 12 ASEAN dialogue partners.
History
The ASEAN was established on August 8, 1967, when foreign ministers of five countries—Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, and Thailand met at the
Thai Department of Foreign Affairs building in Bangkok and signed the ASEAN
Declaration (also known as the Bangkok Declaration). The five foreign ministers, considered the organization's
Founding Fathers, were Adam Malik of
Indonesia, Narciso R.
Ramos of the Philippines, Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia, S. Rajaratnam of Singapore, and
Thanat Khoman of Thailand. The
founding fathers envisaged that the organization will eventually encompass all countries in Southeast Asia.
Brunei Darussalam became the sixth member of the ASEAN when it
joined on January 7, 1984, barely a week
after the country became independent on January 1. It would be a further 11 years
before ASEAN expanded from its core six members. Vietnam became the seventh member in
1995, and Laos and Myanmar joined two years later in July 1997. Cambodia was to have joined the ASEAN together with Laos and Myanmar, but was deferred due to the country's
internal political struggle. Cambodia later joined on April 30, 1999, following the stabilization of its government. Thus was completed the ASEAN-10—the
organization of all countries in Southeast Asia.
East Timor
The new nation of East Timor, previously part of Indonesia, has had a long
struggle with ASEAN. East Timor, during its long process towards independence, has sought to have observer status in the ASEAN,
much like Papua New Guinea, and eventually official member status. However, many countries in the ASEAN have barred support for
East Timor in the late 1990s in the name of solidarity with Indonesia. Myanmar, in particular, opposed granting observer status
to East Timor because of the latter's support for Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Since East Timor's independence in May 2002, the ASEAN has been more accommodating of the new nation. East Timor has already
been invited to several ASEAN meetings. However, East Timor is still not an observer nation in the ASEAN.
October 2003 Summit
At a meeting on October 7, 2003 on
Bali, leaders of the members nations signed a declaration known as the Bali Concord
II in which they agreed to pursue closer economic integration by 2020.
According to the declaration, "an ASEAN Community" would be set upon three pillars, "namely political and security
cooperation, economic cooperation, and socio-cultural cooperation... for the purpose of ensuring durable peace, stability and
shared prosperity in the region." The plan envisaged a region with a population of 500 million and annual trade of US$720
billion. Also, a free trade area would be established in the region by 2020. Asean's leaders also discussed setting up a security
community alongside the economic one, though without any formal military alliance.
During the same meeting, the People's Republic
of China and ASEAN have also agreed to work faster toward a mutual trade agreement, which will create the world's most
populous market, with 1.7 billion consumers. Japan also signed an agreement pledging to
reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers with ASEAN members.
External Link
|