ASEAN - The mission of "small countries leading big countries"

(Baonghean) - On August 8, 2017, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - ASEAN turned 50 years old. On this occasion, Nghe An Newspaper introduces an article by Associate Professor, Dr. - Major General Le Van Cuong, Former Director of the Institute of Science and Strategy of the Ministry of Public Security, about the establishment process; achievements over 50 years; opportunities and challenges of the bloc...

Heads of delegations from ASEAN countries at the 30th ASEAN Summit in the Republic of the Philippines

1. Development process

ASEAN – Association of Southeast Asian Nations was established on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok with 5 initial members: Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore, and in 1984 Brunei was added.

The 1976 Bangkok Declaration defines the purposes of the association as: To accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region in order to consolidate the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of nations in Southeast Asia; to ensure peace and stability in the region based on respect for justice and the law in the relationship among nations and adherence to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations; to promote active cooperation and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields; to maintain close and beneficial cooperation with international and regional organizations with similar objectives. The most important document of ASEAN is the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. ASEAN operates on the principle of unanimity at all levels and on all issues (called the consensus principle).

From 1967 to present, ASEAN has developed through two basic stages.

- Phase 1: (from 1967 to late 1991).

This period was mainly about political and security cooperation and responding to external challenges. Economic and cultural cooperation among the six countries was still very loose and vague. It can be said that political and security cooperation was the focus of ASEAN in the period 1967-1991.

- Phase 2 (from 1992 to present).

The Cold War ended (1991), in the new context of the international order, ASEAN adjusted its model, method, content and scope of cooperation in the direction of shifting from political and security cooperation to economic cooperation as the focus, culminating in the formation of the ASEAN Community with 3 pillars: Economic Community, Political-Security Community and Socio-Cultural Community in December 2015.

2. ASEAN's 50-year achievements.

- On economic cooperation.

ASEAN has a roadmap for economic cooperation from low to high, from cooperation in each field to comprehensive cooperation, from loose to tight. At the 4th ASEAN Summit in January 1992, ASEAN set the goal of "Building a Free Trade Area" - AFTA" in 15 years, approving the "Common Effective Tariff Scheme".

After the financial crisis that began in Thailand in July 1997, ASEAN began to expand economic ties with regional powers. Chaired by ASEAN, in December 1997, the first ASEAN +3 Summit (leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries and leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea) achieved unexpected success. Although in 1997, the GDP of the 10 ASEAN countries accounted for only 10% of GDP, and the three partners China, Japan, and South Korea were overwhelmingly large, accounting for 90% of the total GDP of ASEAN +3, ASEAN played a central role in connecting and cooperating in the East Asia region - the most dynamic and successful economic region in the world. The 10 ASEAN countries need to cooperate with Japan, China, and South Korea; conversely, the three Northeast Asian economic powers also need to expand their links and cooperation with ASEAN countries.

In the process of cooperation with the three economic powers of China, Japan and South Korea, ASEAN countries have the conditions to realize the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). AFTA is an important tool to exploit the economic scale and comparative advantages of each ASEAN member country to achieve rapid, effective and sustainable development.

The rapid removal of tariffs has promoted the rapid and dynamic development of ASEAN member countries' economies. Since January 1, 2005, import tariffs on nearly 99% of products from the top 6 countries (Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei) have been below 5%, with more than 60% of these products being duty-free. A notable result of the ASEAN free trade area is that intra-bloc trade increased from 5% in 1991 to 21% in 2016.

In January 2007, ASEAN countries decided to build the ASEAN Economic Community - AEC with 4 goals: 1. Building a unified market and production platform; 2. A competitive economic region; 3. Creating equitable development within the region; 4. A region integrated with the world economy.

By the end of 2015, the ASEAN Economic Community - AEC was officially established and this is an important turning point.

Economically, after 50 years of establishment, from a group of poor, disparate countries, it has become a unified economic region with 623 million people, a total GDP of more than 2,600 billion USD (7th globally), and a trade turnover of 2,530 billion USD (4th globally).

ASEAN becomes an economic pole in the East Asia region in particular and the Asia-Pacific region in general.

- About politics and security.

The formation of the ASEAN Community with 3 pillars: 1. Economic Community; 2. Political-security Community; 3. Cultural-social Community at the end of 2015, ASEAN countries have overcome the fears, vigilance, and lack of trust in each other in the 60s, 70s, and 80s of the last century to come together, join hands, and determinedly build a regional political and security community. This is a great leap forward in the awareness of the 10 ASEAN countries in the political-security field.

Since the end of the first decade of the 21st century, both China and the United States have tried to attract ASEAN to their side. ASEAN has become an entity, an important factor in building and maintaining political stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region.

History has assigned ASEAN to be the center of connection, conflict resolution, and cooperation for peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since the 1990s, Asia-Pacific has become the most dynamically developing economic region in the world and the locomotive of the global economy. The creation and maintenance of a peaceful and stable environment for the Asia-Pacific strategic region has posed an objective and urgent requirement for the formation of a regional security forum with ASEAN as the connecting center. In 1994, the “ASEAN Regional Forum” – ARF was born.

The ASEAN-led Asia-Pacific Regional Security Forum (ARF) has invited ASEAN's key partners to discuss regional security issues.

Currently, the ARF has 27 members participating in discussing strategic issues such as “Strategic trust building”, “implementing preventive diplomacy”... to proactively resolve disputes and conflicts in the region. After 23 years of operation (1994 - 2017), the ASEAN-led ARF Security Forum has made a decisive contribution to ensuring peace, stability, cooperation and development in the Asia-Pacific region, the most dynamically developing region in the world in terms of economy but also containing many fierce conflicts of the times.

Leading the ARF forum to ensure peace and stability for nearly a quarter of a century in the Asia-Pacific region is a great success of ASEAN in the political and security fields.

By leading the ARF, ASEAN has created the miracle of “small country leading big country”.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the meeting between ASEAN leaders and representatives of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) within the program of the 30th ASEAN Summit.

3. Challenges and opportunities

ASEAN, comprising 10 poor developing countries, is the most successful regional association, and public opinion even considers ASEAN to be a model for integration of developing countries.

Currently, ASEAN is facing many challenges, but also has opportunities that can and must be taken advantage of to continue developing.

- Challenges for ASEAN: There are internal and external challenges.

There are several internal challenges: 1. Uneven development levels; 2. The economic structures of ASEAN countries, on many basic issues, are quite similar; 3. Some countries face the problem of ethnic separatism and religious conflicts (Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand).

External challenges for ASEAN: 1. International terrorist organizations such as IS and al-Qaeda, after suffering heavy defeats in Iraq and Syria, are moving to operate in ASEAN countries, first of all in island nations such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia; 2. The US is implementing trade protectionism, Europe is dealing with populism, anti-international integration and economic globalization movements; Latin America is in crisis. These issues have a great impact on ASEAN's trade and investment activities; 3. China and the US are increasingly deeply involved in ASEAN, attracting ASEAN countries into their forces to serve their geopolitical purposes. The Sino-US competition puts ASEAN in front of a great challenge in perceiving and responding to external pressures.

- Great opportunities for ASEAN: 1. ASEAN has achieved great achievements in economic integration, political and security cohesion, and has a lot of experience in resolving internal and external challenges; 2. Major powers in and outside the region such as China, the US, Japan, India, Russia, Australia, South Korea, and the EU all have the need to promote and expand cooperation with ASEAN; 3. ASEAN has an important geopolitical, geostrategic, and geoeconomic position in Asia - Pacific - the leading region of the world economy.

For ASEAN, the challenges are not small, but the opportunities are also vast and come from many directions. The difficulties that ASEAN has overcome and the great achievements that ASEAN has achieved in the past 50 years have clarified a valuable lesson: “When the 10 ASEAN countries are united and only united, ASEAN will certainly overcome all challenges and take advantage of opportunities to continue to develop and promote its role as a connecting center, leading the political-security structure of Asia-Pacific, confidently and proudly carrying out the mission of “Small countries leading big countries”.

LE VAN CUONG