New security issues in Southeast Asia and the role of multilateral mechanisms on regional security issues

Abstract

Southeast Asia is an area of peninsulas and islands, consisting of many countries, spread between the south of China, the southeast of the Indian subcontinent and the northwest of Australia. Political and geophysical boundaries are created through a combination of factors, including natural features, traditional differences of nations, colonial claims, and political agreements. Southeast Asia has been the subject of exploration, invasion, and annexation by European and North American colonial powers. It can be affirmed that Southeast Asia is very important and has an international position, with a need and motivation to increase strength to avoid being influenced by the power of other countries to protect national sovereignty. "Regionalism" and "internationalism" are accompanying in the journey to open up new trends, enhance interaction, strengthen relations, and develop open and far-reaching policies in Southeast Asian countries. The traditional concept of national security is understood in terms of multidimensionality, multifacetedness, and multifunction, in which the nation and its existence are the subjects of traditional security, supplemented with new subjects such as humans, economy, culture, sociaty, religion, etc., thereby, becoming a new security problem called non-traditional security. In this study, the approach to some countries and the national independence of the country is the subject of traditional security and non-traditional security. Any issues can be always new in this area, especially new security issues of the region. On that basis, this study initially draws policy implications for Vietnam in particular and Southeast Asia in general to seek and establish an optimal cooperation strategy, which is suitable for the context of regional and global integration.