Asia’s rise on the global economic stage -
and the growing competition for resources that entails - is leading the
10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to position itself as
a shaper of security architecture to avoid regional conflicts, especially after
recent tensions over the South China Sea.
At the
World Economic Forum in Bangkok, ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said
his organization needs to help resolve such issues.
Four
ASEAN member states - the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei - have
competing claims with China over access to the South China Sea, which is said
to be rich in oil and gas reserves.
Tensions
between China and Vietnam, and more recently between China and the Philippines,
have made the region a potential flashpoint for conflict.
Surin,
a former Thai foreign minister, said China is already "conscious of its
own responsibility and interests in the region."
"[Regarding]
our problem with China on the South China Sea, we have agreed with the Chinese
[that the best way forward] is to demonstrate to the world that we can manage
the differences among us without having to resort to violence and open
conflict," he said.
Establishing
a "code of conduct" to guide competing states is a central point of
discussion within ASEAN, said Surin, who added that China wants a key role in
setting the guidelines.
"ASEAN
would offer the forum," he said. "ASEAN would offer the stage, the
process and encouragement and I think along the way we can contain, again, the
differences, and we can show the world that we can manage [and] are not going
into open conflict. That already is a great achievement."
According
to Peking University Professor Zha Daojiong, ASEAN’s role in avoiding conflicts
is vital.
“ASEAN
is very central to security maintenance," he said, describing the
organization as indispensable to regional stability and sustained growth.
"If you look at today’s Asia, we are so lucky. That spirit of leaving no
stones untouched; that spirit of consultations; that spirit of working with
each other to get you own house in order. Championing a military solution to
solve problems in another state: that should not happen here in Asia.”
Economist
Rajiv Biswas says as Asian economies grow military expenditures are rising,
outstripping the European Union and the United States. He says a long-term
security dialogue is important for the region.
“The
economic rise of Asia has to be accompanied by a strengthening of the security
architecture of the Asia Pacific," he said. "And clearly the
governments are moving in that direction.”
By
including security and economic partners, such as the United States and Russia,
ASEAN is making concrete achievements in building the regional security
architecture, he said.
Ron Corben
Business & Investment Opportunities
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