Session II - The ASEAN Security Community

Summary

While the ASEAN Security Community (ASC) has been endorsed by the 2003 Bali Summit, there is scope for giving more coherence to the concept and to the linkages between the ASC and the other two pillars of the ASEAN Community namely, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the ASEAN Social-Cultural Community (ASCC).

The concept of a security community (à la Karl Deutsch) has been in the literature for a very long time. To the extent that such a community implies conscious war avoidance in the conduct of intra-mural relations, it can be said that ASEAN is already a security community. However, in the post-Cold War era there is a need to go beyond external threats given the new generation of transnational security challenges (the 1997 regional economic crisis and its aftermath, environmental pollution, the spread of infectious diseases, international terrorism, etc.,) facing ASEAN. Such problems cannot be dealt with by ASEAN acting alone. They require the co-operative efforts of the international community. While external threats are largely dissipated in the post-Cold War regional security environment, internal threats to regimes are real. But how a security community deals with this kind of threat requires careful deliberation considering that the value that is placed on non-intervention in ASEAN. There is a need not only for concerted and co-ordinated action but also for practical solutions to practical problems.

In formulating a road map for the implementation of the ASEAN Security Community the following considerations are worthy of reiteration:

There is a need to be realistic in taking account of the urgency and relevance of the many proposals. Not all ASEAN members are at the same comfort level vis-à-vis the specific proposals. Time and patience are essential in getting a broad base of acceptance.

The more sensitive elements of the ASC (such as counter- terrorism, extradition, intrusive peacekeeping and peace building) should be formulated in a more delicate manner or they will not find acceptance among some ASEAN members.

The ASC road map should not be overloaded with initiatives. Also there is a greater need to consolidate existing norms (such as those enshrined in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), the Bangkok Declaration of 1967, Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN) declaration and SEANWFZ treaty, etc.) than consider new ones.