About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (June 10, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdbyw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FF.ri E~$~ & Updated June 10, 2020 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is Southeast Asia's primary multilateral organization, a 10- member grouping of nations with a combined population of 650 million and a combined annual gross domestic product (GDP) of around $2.8 trillion in 2019. Established in 1967, it has grown into one of the world's largest regional fora, representing a strategically important region with some of the world's busiest sea lanes, including the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. Taken collectively, ASEAN would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy and the United States' fourth-largest export market. ASEAN's members are Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Members rotate as chair: Vietnam is ASEAN's chair for 2020 and Brunei is to assume the chair in 2021. ASEAN engages in a wide range of diplomatic, economic and security discussions through hundreds of annual meetings and through a secretariat based in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2008, the United States became the first non-ASEAN nation to appoint a representative to ASEAN, and in 2011 opened a U.S. mission to ASEAN in Jakarta with a resident Ambassador. Several other nations have followed suit. ASEAN is a diverse and informal organization. Two of its core operating principles are consensual decisionmaking and noninterference in the internal affairs of its members. Some observers argue that this style constrains ASEAN from acting strongly and cohesively on important issues. Others argue that these principles-dubbed the ASEAN Way promote regional stability and ensure that the group's diverse members continue to discuss issues where their interests sometimes diverge. ASEAN includes nations across the economic development spectrum, and its political systems include democracies, semi-authoritarian states, and repressive military regimes. Asia has no dominant EU-style multilateral body, and many see the region's economic and security institutions as underdeveloped. ASEAN convenes and administratively supports a number of regional fora that include other governments (known as dialogue partners), including the United States. ASEAN Member governments deeply value what they call ASEAN Centrality in the evolving regional architecture. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), established in 1994 with 26 Asian and Pacific states plus the EU, was formed to facilitate dialogue on political and security matters. The East Asia Summit (EAS), created in 2005, is an evolving leaders-level forum with a varied agenda, in which the United States gained membership in 2010. The EAS includes all 10 ASEAN members, plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. The ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting- Plus (ADMM+) was established in 2010, bringing senior defense officials from EAS members together regularly and hosting multilateral military exchanges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . of Soutat Rt wihi d ang Natns CQMAYAY$IA k 4 11 N> alliances with the Philippines and Thailand and a close security partnership with Singapore. Some U.S. officials have spoken of a need to strengthen ties with the region's multilateral institutions as well. The United States initially supported ASEAN as a means to promote regional dialogue and as a bulwark against Communism in Asia, becoming an ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 1977. In 2009, the United States acceded to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and committed to an annual U.S.-ASEAN Meeting. In 2012, it raised the level of the U.S.-ASEAN meeting to a Leaders Meeting, and in November 2015, it announced the creation of a US-ASEAN Strategic Partnership. Successive U.S. Administrations have identified deep U.S. interests in Southeast Asia, including fostering democracy and human rights, encouraging liberal trade and investment regimes, addressing maritime security and tensions in the South China Sea, promoting environmental protection, countering piracy and terrorism, and combatting human trafficking and trafficking in narcotics and wildlife. Some of ASEAN's members were among the first countries outside China to identify COVID-19 cases in early 2020. The region's experiences with previous trans-national public health crises, including avian influenza and the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic, helped some ASEAN members address the 2020 outbreak. The Trump Administration has cast its regional strategy as the promotion of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, a p\w -- , gn'a', goo mppm qq\ a , q I 11LINUALiN,

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most