After nearly 5 decades of its establishment, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations successfully built ASEAN Community in December 2015, basing on three pillars, namely Political-Security Community, Economic Community, and Social-Cultural Community, for peace and prosperity of regional countries. Among these, the Political-Security Community plays an important role in maintaining peace and stability in the region and consolidating ASEAN international status.
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PM Nguyen Tan Dzung delivering speech to welcome the formation of the ASEAN Community (photo: VNA) |
Role and achievements of ASEAN Political-Security Community
Being fully aware of the role of political and security cooperation in maintaining peace and stability in the region, ASEAN member states, in 2003, decided to build the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC), considering it the key to maintain peace, security and stability of the region.
Accordingly, on the basis of comprehensive security concept and main principles of ASEAN, the APSC was built on the principles of consensus, unity in diversity, protecting independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, non-interference in the internal affairs of one another, no threat to use or use of force, settlement of conflicts by peaceful means. ASEAN holds that building the APSC does not aim at establishing a military alliance or bloc, or gearing toward a common diplomatic policy, but to build a rule-based community with common values and norms; a cohesive, peaceful and resilient region with shared responsibility for maintaining security comprehensively; a dynamic and outward-looking region in an increasingly integrated and interdependent world, on the basis of respecting international law and principles of ASEAN. That is the principal viewpoint, reflecting consistent guideline and goal of the Association, being the grounds for activities of the APSC.
The greatest success of ASEAN is to create a peaceful and stable environment in the region. According to observers, the formation of an ASEAN including 10 Southeast Asian countries has made fundamental changes and contributions to ending separation and confrontation in the region, creating a peaceful, stable and cooperative environment for the development of regional countries, and vividly reflecting efforts and achievements of political-security cooperation of all ASEAN member states. Which is demonstrated in the following works:
ASEAN has proactively built and shared norms with not only its members but also with its partners. This was inscribed in many important documents, first and foremost the ASEAN Charter, and its institutions which are standards for the conduct in the region, such as the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation in South East Asia (TAC) and the Treaty on the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ), Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. Those became important documents and tools contributing to the creation and firm maintenance of peace and security in the region. For TAC alone, now there have been 32 countries and 1 regional organization (European Union) participating in it, including all 5 permanent member states of the UN Security Council. It is the most important document, making contributions to regulating relations and conduct among countries engaging in regional cooperation. Notably, ASEAN has made efforts and played a significant role in maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea; particularly, it has actively promoted dialogues and maritime cooperation, adopted measures to build confidence in the region, encouraged the implementation of DOC, and called for the construction of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.
Regarding conflict prevention and confidence building, ASEAN pledges to strengthen cooperation within the bloc and with its partners in the following aspects: building confidence; enhancing transparency and sharing information on defence and security policy; promoting the process of ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF); firmly holding the commitment on respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and unification of member states, and setting framework for cooperation among defence and security forces of ASEAN countries.
On settlement of non-traditional security challenges, ASEAN attaches great importance to consensus building and the practical implementation. Member states have strengthened cooperation in sharing professional information; capacity training and enhancing, and cooperation on jurisdiction and extradition; promoting collaboration among relevant organs; effectively realizing declarations and action plans in each specific aspect; building legal framework for forms of cooperation, such as ASEAN Convention on Counter Terrorism, ASEAN Declarations on the prevention and control of transnational crime, HIV, drug trafficking; building the ASEAN Multilateral Agreement on Disaster Management and Humanitarian Relief.
Political Cooperation has been promoted through sharing information about mechanism, history and culture of member states; strengthening legal and jurisdictional systems; enhancing administration, ensuring democracy, human rights, combating corruption among its member nations. It is worth noting that the establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and the Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC), a long with ASEAN Human Rights Declaration has made contributions to deepening cooperation. Moreover, engagement of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and people from all walks of life in the process of building a people-oriented ASEAN Community serving the practical interests of the people is also an outstanding cooperative feature of the Association.
Cooperation in defence and security is an important part of the APSC and the key to solving international and regional issues for the goal of peace, stability and prosperity of Southeast Asia countries. Thus, since the early years of the 21st century, besides defence and security dialogues under the framework of the ARF, ASEAN defence and military meetings have been organized, forming an extensive network of frameworks for cooperation at different forms and levels, becoming an important channel of cooperation in the process of building the APSC. Typically, there are mechanisms such as ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM), ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting - Plus (ADMM+), ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM).
ADMM is the formal channel of defence cooperation at the highest level among regional countries and an important part of the APSC, aiming to support ASEAN in strengthening solidarity internally, bringing into play its neutrality, and encouraging cooperation to deal with regional security challenges. However, facing complexities and impacts made by transborder security challenges, ASEAN states could not solely rely on its internal efforts and cooperation; it should strengthen cooperation with other countries. Therefore, the channel of ADMM+ was established. With an open mechanism, including the world’s military powers, the meetings provide opportunities for ASEAN to take advantage of external supporting sources for the goal of security and development. That is a historic development in the process of defence and security cooperation of ASEAN, marking its maturity in the aspect of internal and regional defence-military cooperation. Though, forming later, defence-military cooperation has become a breakthrough on the path of building APSC and the ASEAN Community as a whole.
The formation of the APSC is a significant milestone, providing basis and favourable conditions for ASEAN to continue strengthening and further deepening political-security cooperation and internal connectivity, maintaining its neutrality in the region’s shaping architecture; at the same time, helping ASEAN take the lead in working with its partners to deal with common security challenges, for peace and stability of the region and the world.
Vietnam has always accompanied and made positive contributions to the building of the APSC
At the moment of the formation of the ASEAN Community, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stressed that “During its 20-year ASEAN membership, under the motto of "proactive, active and responsible" participation, Vietnam has seriously fulfilled the commitments and obligations of a member country while making important contributions to the grouping's development and strength, which has been recognized by countries both inside and outside the region”. Strategically, first and foremost is the participation of Vietnam in building the APSC and the ASEAN Community as a whole. The greatest contribution of Vietnam was that it and other member nations have “steered” the ship of ASEAN to the right direction. Vietnam has proactively proposed and prompted ASEAN to make many key decisions and orientations for the cooperation within ASEAN and between ASEAN and its partners in order to strengthen dialogues, build confidence, and create a source of shared power to respond to challenges, particularly non-traditional security challenges, and to maintain security and peace in the region and the world. 3 years after becoming a member of ASEAN, Vietnam successfully held the 6th ASEAN Summit in 1998 in Hanoi which issued the Hanoi Action Plan and the Declaration on Narrowing Development Gap for Closer ASEAN Integration. The result of the Summit have made contributions to orienting the development of ASEAN and helping ASEAN overcome the regional financial crisis.
Notably, with the determination expressed in the motto “Towards the ASEAN Community: from Vision to Action”, in 2010, as the Chairman of ASEAN, Vietnam actively held talks within ASEAN and consulted ASEAN partners to achieve a consensus on adding the U.S. and Russia to the East Asia Summit (EAS); at the same time, initiated and successfully chaired the 1st ADMM+. With the consensus of 18 participant countries on the deployment of 6 expert groups in the 6 aspects of priority, namely Maritime Security, Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief, Military Medical, Counter-Terrorism, Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Mine Action, Vietnam and other ASEAN member nations paved the way and created motivations for the Association to act in line with the regional security and cooperation, opening up one of the most effective and practical dialogue channels and multilateral defence cooperation in the region.
The formation of the ASEAN Community is a notable success; however, it is just the preliminary step. In the context of an increasingly complicated and unpredictable world, Vietnam and ASEAN as a whole should work harder to build an increasingly strong ASEAN Community. Acknowledging its role in the Community, Vietnam is adjusting its thought from “activeness in participation” to “proactiveneness in contribution”, building, shaping rules of the game, to considerably contribute to maintaining peace, security, stability in the region and the world.
Major General, Dr. Vu Tien Trong
Head of the Institute for Defence International Relations