Abstract
While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed with the explicit purpose of fostering economic, and socio-cultural cooperation between member states, nonetheless the main underlying reason was the threat posed by the Cold War, namely the spread of communism. With the end of the Cold War in 1991, ASEAN not only began witnessing enlargement in its membership but even in the area of its external relations. Since the 1990s, ASEAN embarked on an ambitious journey to expand it extra-regional relations such that it currently has institutionalised mechanisms in place for engaging most, if not all, the major actors and regions around the world. As such, the purpose of this article is to examine the reasons behind the massive expansion in ASEAN’s external relations with key actors across the globe.
Highlights
Association of Southeas Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed in 1967 through the Bangkok Declaration with the explicit purpose to enhance economic, social and cultural relations between its founding member states, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand
In the area of politicalsecurity for example, the APT Summit held in 1998 has seen the establishment of the East Asia Vision Group (EAVG) due to the impact of Asian financial crisis in 1997.10 The ASEAN +3 leaders felt that there was a need for ASEAN + 3 countries to have a mutual cooperation in managing and overcoming the crisis, in the the long term effort to instill this kind of cooperation as one of the East Asian identity
The “ASEAN Online” was launched in April 2014.95. It is evident from the discussion above that apart from working to enhance regional integration, ASEAN has been actively engaging various state actors and regional organizations throughout the globe for the last 61 years
Summary
ASEAN was formed in 1967 through the Bangkok Declaration with the explicit purpose to enhance economic, social and cultural relations between its founding member states, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. In the area of politicalsecurity for example, the APT Summit held in 1998 has seen the establishment of the East Asia Vision Group (EAVG) due to the impact of Asian financial crisis in 1997.10 The ASEAN +3 leaders felt that there was a need for ASEAN + 3 countries to have a mutual cooperation in managing and overcoming the crisis, in the the long term effort to instill this kind of cooperation as one of the East Asian identity This ASEAN’s initiative to create a new institutional arrangements and to attract different actors in the region to a regular discussions have enabled ASEAN to moderate some of potential tensions.[11] The EAVG has the objective to inspire the East Asian peoples and their respective governments to work together in addressing and managing the East Asian region’s future challenges.[12] In 2011, the Second EAVG was established with the objective to cater for the APT cooperation activities and the evaluation of these activities in developing the East Asia community-building and cooperation. The amount of NZD258,000 was given to Laos between 2015-2016 for English language training to its 150 officials in support of Laos’ ASEAN Chair role in 2016.28
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