Hustle time, ASEAN

ASEAN remains an economic bloc with a non-existent defense structure, but as a group, it can exert great economic pressure as leverage to achieve an agenda.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is evolving into a microcosm of the United Nations in character in that its politics is manipulated by powerful forces, making it ineffective.

The UN has been criticized for acting tentatively on the 7 October attack by the terror group Hamas on Israel in which 139 people of different nationalities were killed.

It took ages for the UN to recognize the massacre and the legitimacy of Israel’s war against terror. It was preoccupied, instead, with the allegations of genocide which have an anti-Israel bias.

Compare the situation in the Asian region where the ASEAN has been practically ineffective in preventing aggressive acts, particularly among members of the economic community.

ASEAN remains an economic bloc with a non-existent defense structure, but as a group it can exert great economic pressure as leverage to achieve an agenda.

The community has 10 members: Brunei Darussalam, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Together, its members represent a market with a gross domestic product of more than $2.9 trillion and a population of 647 million.

Amid the maritime conflict involving its members, specifically Vietnam and the Philippines, ASEAN has been useless and is even used by giant China to apply pressure on the smaller nations.

China, during the recent maritime skirmishes with the Philippines, had stymied ASEAN which is negotiating a Code of Conduct, saying that negotiations for binding rules on the West Philippine Sea are being compromised by the challenges to its baseless boundary claims.

The vacuum should be addressed by ASEAN while resisting the arm-twisting of China.

ASEAN members have been showered with big-ticket Chinese projects that serve as a muzzle against speaking up on the WPS issue

ASEAN’s failure to secure a substantive joint statement to address the sea disputes has been cited as a huge hurdle to maintaining peace in the region, the Sydney-based think tank Lowy Institute said.

It pointed to the consensus decision-making model of the organization as a likely weak point, “especially in times of crisis, underscoring China’s divisive impact on the group.”

“In the past, Cambodia has been accused of being an obstacle. It’s a number that seems to be growing,” it added.

It referred to the Philippines, among ASEAN members, as having taken a more assertive stance over China’s aggressive actions near its territories.

It expressed worry over the increasing incidents of sea collisions, which are deliberately undertaken by China, and the use of water cannons that it said are not isolated incidents.

It added that Manila’s position may stem from growing US support and it correctly deduced that the shift was also driven by “desperation as efforts to extract a meaningful solution via ASEAN have to date been unsuccessful.”

Without ASEAN, the Philippines is taking a calculated risk, according to the Australian research firm.

A clear ASEAN role and a substantive position on the maritime friction are needed.

Lowy Institute warned that the US is in election mode “and should Donald Trump regain the presidency, it is uncertain whether the United States will remain committed to the region or fulfill its obligations to its allies.”

“The Philippines needs to engage with other Asian powers, namely, the three other members of the Quad — Japan, Australia and India,” it said.

The Philippines and Australia have upgraded their relations with the signing of a strategic partnership last year.

ASEAN, however, needs to take an unequivocal position on the WPS issue or sink into irrelevance as China’s factotum.

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Credit belongs to: tribune.net.ph