Summits of Association of Southeast Asian Nations 2004-2012 - Research Paper Example

ASEAN Write-Up I. THE ASEAN: Overview The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was originally composed by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and founded on August 08, 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration also known as Bangkok Declaration. Other countries in the region joined later namely, Brunei Darussalam which joined on January 07, 1984, Vietnam on July 28, 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on July 23, 1997, and Cambodia on April 30, 1999. As of today, ASEAN is composed to ten member states. II. Summary of Summits: 2004 – 2012 (source: http://www.aseansec.org) a. 10th Summit: November 29-30, 2004, Vientiane, Laos Perhaps the most substantive and relevant agreement today that was reached on the 10th ASEAN Summit was the reaching of the “Agreement on Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-Operation Between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the People’s Republic of China”. This was in addition to the previous agreement in 2002 on how the ASEAN and China would conduct themselves in their maritime claims in the region. Another agreement that was made during the 10th ASEAN Summit was the trade agreement between ASEAN and China with the “Agreement on Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the People’s Republic of China”. b. 11th ASEAN Summit: December 12–14, 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia The highlights of the 11th ASEAN revolved around on how the region would deal with the spread of the bird flu which was threatening to become an epidemic during that time. Political issue in Thailand was also tackled and so is the democracy issue in Myanmar. The ASEAN Charter also begun to be drafted during the 11th Summit. c. 12th ASEAN Summit: January 11-14, 2007 The 12th ASEAN Summit was supposed to be held on December 10 to 14, 2006 on Cebu City but the host country, Philippines decided on December 8 to reschedule it to January 12 to 15, 2007 due to the typhoon Seniang. The core of the 12th ASEAN Summit was the continuing integration of the region. During the summit, the blueprint of the ASEAN Charter was finalized. The idea of a common market among the ASEAN Community by 2015 was also declared. The protection and promotion of the rights of the migrant workers along with a convention of how ASEAN would deal with terrorism was also agreed. d. 13th ASEAN Summit: November 18–22, 2007, in Singapore. On the 13th ASEAN Summit was themed as One ASEAN at the Heart of Dynamic Asia". The main focus of the summit was the environment and the continuing discussion of creating a common ASEAN market. During the summit, climate change, environment along with sustainable development were discussed and the proposal to work on a Singapore Declaration on the Environment was also issued. The previous declaration of establishing a common ASEAN market (similar to EU) was also discussed and the blueprint and targets to achieve a common ASEAN market by 2015 was also drafted. Other agreements that were reached include “ASEAN Mutual Recognition Agreement on Architectural Services”, “ASEAN Framework Arrangement for the Mutual Recognition of Surveying Qualifications”, “Protocol to Implement the Sixth Package of Commitments under the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services” and “Agreements on trade and areas of cooperation with ASEAN Dialogue Partners”. e. 14th ASEAN Summit: February 27, - March 1, 2009/April 10–11 2009, Cha Am, Hua Hin Pattaya, Thailand. In addition to the recent Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the 14th ASEAN Summit can be said as one of the more “tumultuous” summit because of the political crisis that the host country, Thailand was in. The National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) protesters stormed the Summit and managed to get past through security where the guest leaders had to evacuated in a nearby military camp that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had to cancel the summit and declare a state of national emergency. The protest was a product of Thailand’s political conflict between its two major political parties People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and People’s Power Party and later, the Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva own political party Democratic party and UDD. It was believed that the protest was not directed against the ASEAN leaders but rather on the Thai government. But unlike the 2012 ASEAN Summit where no agreement was reached, the 14th ASEAN Summit in Pattaya, Thailand managed to have Cha-am Hua Hin Declaration on the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community and adopted other important documents that included ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint. f. 15th ASEAN Summit: October 23–25, 2009, in Hua Hin, Cha Am, Thailand The more significant event of the 15th ASEAN Summit was the continuing dialogue between ASEAN and China. It included other partners of the region such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. g. 16th and 17th ASEAN Summit held in Ha Noi,Vietnam 9 April 2010 and October 28-31, 2010 The 16th and 17th Summits held in Vietnam can be best summarized as the cementing of ASEAN connectivity not only with its political ties but also on its infrastructure with the “DECLARATION ON THE ADOPTION OF THE MASTER PLAN ON ASEAN CONNECTIVITY”. The plan intended to bolster the region’s interconnectivity of its people, goods, services and capital. It would enhance the ASEAN socio-politico and cultural relationships to make the region more competitive in the midst of globalization. The summit was held against a backdrop of Chinese starting assertion over the South China Sea. ON a side note, Indonesian President was not able to attend the opening ceremony of the Summit due because he had to go back to Indonesia and oversee his disaster stricken country. h. 18th ASEAN Summit: May 7-8, 2011, Jakarta, Indonesia. The 18th Summit was highly political because it was focused on the assumption of Myanmar as the next ASEAN chair. Myanmar was then perceived to have poor human rights record and it was pressured by ASEAN to apply measures before it can assume the chair. The 18th Summit also recorded first failure of ASEAN in resolving conflict among its member states such as it was not able to resolve the border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. i. 19th ASEAN Summit in Bali, Indonesia at Nov,2011. The gist of the 19th ASEAN Summit was the transformation of ASEAN into a one collaborative community that is consistent with its vision of having a common market in 2012. It spoke of maintaining regional stability and security which would later be imperiled with the stand-off between China and Philippines due to China’s increasing aggressiveness in it maritime claims. III. 20th ASEAN Summit in Phomn Penh, Cambodia and Recent Developments For the first time in ASEAN’s long history of cooperation and amity that usually leads to declaration of agreements, the 20th ASEAN Summit ended up in disarray with no agreement/s reached. The Summit was held against the backdrop of an increasing Chinese aggressiveness in its claim on the whole of the South China Sea that reaches even up to the coastline and within the claimants’ 200 mile exclusive economic zone. It was advised (by the US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton) that drafting a common code of conduct and a common stand among ASEAN countries on the issue of various claims on the varying islands on the South China Sea would help establish a common behavior in the region and bring stability in the region. China however is opposed to any multilateral talk with regard to the disputes on the islands of Spratleys, Scarborough Shoals etch but rather preferred to deal with each claimant country individually so that it can capitalize on its size. Months before the Summit, Cambodia, which is the host of the 20th ASEAN Summit, received military and economic aid from China as run by different news agencies. It was quoted that the aid was China’s gesture for thanking Cambodia for supporting its core interest in the region. It has to be noted that Cambodia is China’s sole ally in the ASEAN. During the Summit, Cambodia refused to accede to any mention of the stand-off between China and the Philippines in the Panatag Shoal (which was within the 200 exclusive economic zone of the Philippines) giving the excuse that ASEAN should be neutral with the issue. When Cambodia was further asked to compromise, it stormed out of the meeting ending the Summit in acrimony. While ASEAN failed in reaching a common diplomatic communiqué in settling the issue during the 20th Summit, Philippine Adviser of Political Affairs Ronald Llamas told that it is early to tell that drafting of a diplomatic communiqué has failed. This was seconded by US Secretary of State Clinton who mentioned that it is normal for multilateral Summit to hit a snag about reaching an agreement in the early rounds of the talk especially with a sensitive issue such as maritime disputes. Foreign Policy experts warned that the implication ASEAN’s failure in Phnom Penh, Cambodia might affect its vision of creating a common market in 2015.   Read More