The EU has long supported greater regional integration in Southeast Asia, but its influence is now in decline due to China’s growing economic importance. Anja Jetschke and Clara Portela argue that in order to continue in its promotion of regional integration, the EU now needs to do more to engage the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the fields of human rights and non-traditional security

Jetschke, Anja

Portela, Clara

LSE Research Online

11/04/2013China’s rise means the EU must look for new areas ofcooperation with ASEAN.blogs.lse.ac.uk /europpblog/2013/04/11/eu-asean/The EU has long supported greater regional integration in Southeast Asia, but its influence is now indecline due to China’s growing economic importance. Anja Jetschke and Clara Portela argue thatin order to continue in its promotion of regional integration, the EU now needs to do more to engagethe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the fields of human rights and non-traditional security. Since the mid-1990s, EU priorities regarding the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)have remained largely unaltered. However, Asia’s growing economic and political importancerequires the EU to change its strategy towards this region. The EU has long distinguished itself inits relations to ASEAN through its enthusiastic support for regional integration. However, this sort ofco-operation is no longer the EU’s ‘flagship’ in Southeast Asia as other actors such as the AsianDevelopment Bank or Australia have reinforced their programmes in this field, promoting their ownconcepts of regional integration. China’s growing economic importance to ASEAN is diminishing theEU’s significance in the region. In this new context, the EU should develop a strategy for increasingits relevance to Southeast Asia. The EU should continue to assist regional integration, but it alsomust communicate itself better in the region. And even if its regional integration assistance was todecrease in importance, the EU should identify and boost new issue areas which can serve as new flagships for co-operation with Southeast Asia. Human rights protection and non-traditional security, areas where the EU alreadyhas a considerable track-record, are likely candidates.According to the EU treaty, the EU’s foreign-policy goals include the protection of human rights. The increasinglypowerful European Parliament is an advocate of human rights promotion in foreign policy. Yet, in the context of EU-ASEAN relations, human rights abuses have traditionally constituted an impediment, first in East Timor and then inMyanmar. In particular, Myanmar’s 1997 admission into ASEAN sorely strained relations between the organisations,leading a crisis in interregional relations and causing meetings to be cancelled. However, current prospects aremore favourable. This regional policy is reinforced by developments in Myanmar. Since entering office in 2011,President Thein Sein’s gradual introduction of reforms (including legalising opposition parties, relaxing censorshipand releasing political prisoners) has been hailed by the EU: Sanctions were suspended, development aid increasedand prominent EU politicians have made official visits. With Myanmar no longer an issue for dispute, cooperationcan be expanded.1/3Catherine Ashton, signing the Instrument of Accession of the European Union to the Treatyof Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) Credit: European External Action Service– EEAS (Creative Commons BY NC ND)Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are seeking to lock in their domestic reforms at a regional level. On theirinitiative, ASEAN has developed its own human rights agenda. By encouraging human rights reforms, the EU ishelping ASEAN member states cement domestic reforms. This also helps ASEAN develop its identity as a rule-based community.The EU can build on the human rights declaration that was agreed at ASEAN’s 2012 summit in Phnom Penh, whichfollowed the establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) in 2009.Regrettably, the declaration does not provide any mechanisms for regional implementation. In fact, its human rightsinstruments actually affirm the principles of sovereignty and non-intervention, which led the much-vaunted newdeclaration to be criticised by regional human rights organisations for the lack of transparence of its negotiatingprocess. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, called on ASEAN governments tosuspend adoption of the draft declaration because it was not in line with universal standards and the public had notbeen consulted. Furthermore, 62 human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watchcriticised the draft declaration on the grounds that it “creates a sub-standard level of human rights protection in theregion”. However, the recognition of the need to protect human rights in a part of the world that had questioned theiruniversality 15 years earlier carries major symbolic value. The declaration will help orient civil society groups in theregion, but also governments that henceforth will be measured against the newly – established standards.On the hard-security side, China’s emergence in the region and its rise to the rank of a world power will continue topose a challenge for the Southeast Asian states and to affect ASEAN–EU relations. Territorial disputes in the SouthChina Sea remain a source of tension that has been insufficiently addressed by regional organisations, with theASEAN Regional Forum refusing any discussion of the subject. The EU has limited scope to help resolve theconflict, not least because ASEAN states do not consider the EU to be a relevant security actor. In an encouragingfirst step to engaging in the security landscape, the EU signed the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation (TAC) on 12 July2012, a legally binding agreement first signed in 1976 and regarded as a code of conduct by countries in the region.The TAC commits its partners to the principles of independence, equality, territorial integrity, non-interference andthe renunciation of force. Altogether 18 non-ASEAN countries have signed the treaty, including Australia, China,India, Japan and the US. In order for the EU to enter the treaty as a regional organisation, ASEAN had to adopt aspecial protocol, which demonstrates ASEAN’s special interest in the EU. Yet, fearful of losing their centrality in theEast Asian Summit (EAS) should it be enlarged again, ASEAN countries have rejected the EU’s bid for membership.The EU still needs to convince ASEAN of the potential benefits of its membership in the EAS.2/3Yet, the EU does have a profile in the field of non-traditional security. Building up on its record, the EU should betterpublicise its contribution to non-traditional security. The notion of “non-traditional” security has allowed the EU topresent itself as a security actor. The EU has financially committed itself in areas such as food security, disasterprevention, counter-terrorism, environmental protection and climate change, and will continue its cooperation asindicated at the last ASEAN–EU ministerial meeting in Brunei in April 2012. Despite its considerable commitment,the EU is mostly perceived as a humanitarian actor or aid donor in the region, rather than as a security actor. If theEU promotes its current activities as security-relevant, it could increase its chances of being admitted to the EastAsian Summit.This article is a shorter version of the GIGA Focus International 3/13 article, which can be found here. Please read our comments policy before commenting .Note:  This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, norof the London School of Economics.Shortened URL for this post: http://bit.ly/10VI3QD_________________________________________About the AuthorsAnja Jetschke – Georg-August-Universität Göttingen/ GIGAProf. Dr. Anja Jetschke is Professor for International Relations at the Institute for Political Science ofthe Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany, and head of Research Focus 4, “Power, Normsand Governance in International Relations”, at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies(GIGA)._Clara Portela – Singapore Management UniversityDr. Clara Portela is an assistant professor of political science at Singapore Management University,Singapore. She is the author of the monograph European Union Sanctions and ForeignPolicy (2010) and of the edited volume EU-ASEAN Relations in the 21st century (PalgraveMacmillan 2012).3/3

China’s rise means the EU must look for new areas of cooperation with ASEAN.

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

LSE Research Online