ASEAN and the South China Sea Dispute
Added on 2020-03-28
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ASEAN COOPERATION DEFENSE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE 1ASEAN COOPERATION DEFENSE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE NameCourseProfessorInstitutionDate
ASEAN COOPERATION DEFENSE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE 2Executive Summary Since the foundation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) fifty yearsago, there has been greater integration among the member states. The continued cooperationamong the member countries has helped to overcome several regional crisis and problems inunison. In the early days, the agreements were arrived at amicably and also disagreements didnot cause enmity among the members. The earlier founders of ASEAN embraced the culture ofsolving things in an informal atmosphere that was characterized by friendship, and sense of hopeand optimism[CITATION Ach17 \p 162 \l 1033 ]. The impressive relation between the ASEANmember states led to the establishment ASEAN Security Community in 2003 that was laterchanged to ASEAN Political-Security Community with the aim of enhancing multilateraldefense cooperation[CITATION Ami15 \p 3 \l 1033 ]. However, the current South China Sea disputeappears to threaten the defense cooperation that has existed among the ASEAN member statesover a decade. The regional crisis has forced ASEAN member states to focus on realizing theirnational peace more than the achievement of the regional peace[CITATION Anh15 \p 16 \l 1033 ].For example, it has become very hard for the diplomats from the member countries to agree onthe way forward on the South China Sea dispute. This paper refers to this crisis to formulateadvice to the ASIEN member states on how to deal with the South China Sea dispute to restorethe threatened regional defense cooperation.This report finds that serious issues arising from the South China Sea dispute havethreatened ASEAN unity and defense cooperation. For example, the regional insecurity and armsrace competition has become intense. China has engaged in the deployment of the military in thedisputed territory against the spirit of ASEAN Political-Security Community. Besides, theChinese neighbors’ who claim the ownership right of the sea have continued to increase theirmilitary budget and also sought military cooperation from external countries such as theUSA[ CITATION Lin162 \l 1033 ]. The approaches by the different ASEAN member states threatensthe security of the region. This report recommends that cooperation and development will help toovercome the increased regional insecurity and arms race competition being perpetuated by theindividual ASEAN member states at the expense of its defense cooperation.The report also finds that the South China Sea dispute has caused a threat to theenvironment and civilians and increased ASEAN individual member states economic interests.
ASEAN COOPERATION DEFENSE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE 3These consequences have continued to weaken the ASEAN defense cooperation further. In theefforts to secure South China Sea, the claimants of the territory, for example, China hasestablished an artificial island in the sea. With the combination of the military tools in the sea,the natural environment is being threatened. Additionally, the ASIEN member states haveencouraged their fishermen to carry out their fishing activities consistently to prove theindividual state ownership over the territory. Moreover, the economic interests of the individualmember states on the sea have become a major stumbling block to end the dispute[ CITATIONLin161 \l 1033 ]. To solve this dispute, this report advocates for comprehensive consultations andredefined consensus in arriving at the association decision. However, this may not workeffectively for the South China Sea dispute, and therefore, this paper calls for establishment ofthe code of conduct whereby the majority decision will be abiding by all ASEAN member states.BackgroundThe current disputes over the South China Sea territory originate from both maritime andisland claims among individual’s member states of ASEAN in the region (Sathirathai, 2015).Ideally, this is because of the benefits associated with the waters and other features such asbanks, reefs, and islands in the region. The members of the ASEAN that are claiming theownership of the South China Sea want to be given fishing rights, exploitation of the potentialcrude oil in the seabed, exploration and even a control of the major shipping lanes[ CITATIONSea15 \l 1033 ]. The lack of agreement on the issues mentioned above has almost claimed theunion and integration of ASEAN as well as its defense cooperation that was formed with the goalof preventing external attacks. According to the analysts, the disputes over the South China Seaterritory are the potential sources of disagreements in the broader region[ CITATION Sat15 \l 1033 ].The dispute over this territory seems to have been heightened by the stance stand taken by theASEAN member countries. This paper highlights some of the consequences that have risen fromthe South China Sea crisis and if not checked they may result to the disintegration of ASEANdefense cooperation. This view is in support of Nguyen (2015) who noted that if the actions bythe member states are not curtailed, they may disintegrate the ASEAN defense cooperation. Increased Regional Insecurity and Arms RaceThe current and the worse threat is the militarization among the individual member statesas the result of the South China Sea disputes. China leads in the arms race war. For example, in
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