Session I: Strategic and Political Implications

Summary

The roundtable's first session addressed two questions:

• How will the crisis affect the realization of the ASEAN Political and Security Community (APSC)?

• Will changes in economic relationships have an impact on existing strategic relationships (within ASEAN and with its dialogue partners)?

The APSC's contribution is most evident in laying the normative foundations for ASEAN. The ASEAN discourse has shifted its language and concerns, opening space for addressing norms such as human rights, governance and democracy. There is some concern over how ASEAN approaches such concepts as “human security”, “comprehensive security”, “human rights” and “democracy”. Human rights as expressed in the APSC and the ASEAN Charter do not seem to be a shared goal for ASEAN, but rather, part of a regional agenda to bring about change at the domestic level. High expectations of the new language of human rights in ASEAN may be misplaced, as interests do not merge on this as with other conventional security concerns.

A related concern is ASEAN's aspiration to be a rule-based community. This may be difficult to achieve as some ASEAN members are not rule-based regimes. ASEAN should examine more closely the discrepancy in the practices espoused on the ground and the norms adopted at the regional level. This is not to belittle the efforts of the APSC, the ASEAN Charter and ASEAN's normative goals, but rather to clarify whether there is real commitment and will to pursue these goals.

As the APSC underpins the normative element in the ASEAN Community, the impact of the crisis on regional political and security issues lies in distracting the focus of ASEAN member states. As it is, the APSC still lacks a clear definition of concepts like democracy and human rights. Preoccupation with the crisis would thus cause further delay in the clarification of and action on these issues.

ASEAN also faces the challenge of reconciling the rhetoric of its commitment to the realization of the APSC with the reality of creating the necessary institutional mechanisms. This institutional weakness is not necessarily a failure or a lapse, as it appears to suit the regional process. However, institution-building under the APSC may be slowed down as member states turn to other concerns.

Nonetheless, the crisis will not stall or halt the APSC's overall processes, albeit slowing its pace.