Four Sub-Regions’ Key Features

Abstract

AbstractJoining multilateral treaties, sovereign states manifest their priorities in six policy domains: human rights, peace and disarmament, commerce, trade and communications, the environment, intellectual property, labor and health. Central Asians are relatively recent in joining the United Nations (1992) and its multilateral treaty system. Thus, their joining it has been relatively infrequent and their participation is passive. They are often rich in mineral and fossil resources. They are busy reading global mineral resource price trends and yet vigilant not to be taken advantage of by foreign investment partners. Mongolia and Afghanistan are somewhat different. South Asians have been continuing their old instincts and institutions of small government, small army, continuing British India. India has been inheriting the Indian National Congress Party, protectionism at home and nonalignment in diplomacy, and in Arundhati Roy's words, ordinary people are “kings of small things” helped by the de facto division by region, language, ethnicity, caste, until recently. Southeast Asia started as an influx of regional antagonism among most founding members of the ASEAN. In the fiftieth anniversary in 2018, it was determined to make its slogan real, not rhetorical, i.e., ASEAN centrality and noninterference in internal affairs. Southeast Asians’ hexagonal profiles are mostly both small and passive. East Asia's tri-powers, China, Japan, and South Korea, occupy world No. 2, No. 3 and No. 10 in terms of GDP. Their hexagonal profiles do not seem to give the impression of relying on the UN multilateral treaty system.