The 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held their 30th day-long annual summit in Manila, Philippines, last Saturday, May 29, 2017. The Philippines holds the rotating chair of ASEAN this year.
ASEAN, created at the urging of the U.S. in August 1967, was inspired by the EU – and like the EU – is doomed to unravel. The founding members Buddhist Thailand, Catholic Philippines, Muslim Indonesia and Malaysia and Hindu Singapore, is without a doubt the world’s most diverse region religiously, ethnically and linguistically – Indonesia alone counts over 700 languages. The group now includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. With China’s active participation, the group is now known as 10+1. It is a collective of dictatorships, authoritarian states, a monarchy and a few fledgling democracies.
The host Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, president for less than a year, faces a mass murder complaint before the International Criminal Court and an impeachment bid at home as bodies continue to pile up in the thousands in his war on drugs.
“The ratbag of dictators, autocrats and juntas that dominate Asean’s ranks perceive transparency, accountability and rule of law as existential threats rather than foundations of good governance,” said Phelim Kine of Human Rights Watch. “Expect Asean leaders to yet again throw the human rights of an Asian country under the bus by remaining silent about Duterte’s abusive drug war by implicitly or explicitly invoking the organization’s ‘non-interference principle’.” That is exactly what they did. In fact the leaders praised their efforts to advance human rights, urged North Korea to comply with U.N. resolutions and agreed to craft a framework for a code of conduct to contain maritime disputes in the South China Sea.
President Duterte said he did not want any “trouble” with China. Discussing China’s fortifications of reclaimed islands in the South China Sea was useless. “For those who are peace loving just like me, I do not want trouble,” Duterte told a press conference when asked about the bloc’s response to China’s military build-up.
“We never talk about anything about the build-up… It will be useless,” he said.
China is Southeast Asia’s leading trade partner. In Asia, China is viewed as an opportunity – not a threat – albeit warily. China recognizes that a stable regional environment allows it to devote its energies to its economic development. To this end, China has agreed on a declaration of a code of conduct for the South China Sea and joined ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Unlike America, which is making terrorism and the South China Sea dispute its mantras in Asia, China is focused on economic and regional cooperation. U.S. absent-mindedness, missteps and negligence in the region have enabled China to embrace its southern neighbors, a subject I wrote about in Custom Maid Knowledge for New World Order.
ASEAN is similar to the EU and built on the same principle. The elimination of regional tensions and wars. The grouping is about convenience and driven by market logic rather than humanitarian concerns. Therefore, as the EU goes, so goes ASEAN.
Brexit has revealed that confidence and support of regional groupings is on the wane and that such regional groupings are little more than organized showcased pretenses stifled by bureaucrats. China has known this for decades and has quietly executed on its strategy of “divide and conquer” by persuading each ASEAN member to sign bilateral agreements best demonstrated by its infrastructure and investment deals with the Philippines – America’s former stalwart ally in the region.
ASEAN, like the EU, is an elitist project that has served its purpose. Ending regional wars. The time is long overdue for America to wake up to this reality and act accordingly.