FORWARD Volume 1 2015 1
Indonesia is also concerned on border problems; they should be solved peacefully, without the use of military force. The application of international law in solving the Sipadan-Ligitan dispute was a prime example. Indonesia’s modest role has made it to be acknowledged as the primus inter pares in ASEAN. As a democratic country, Indonesia has promoted ASEAN as a people-centred security community.
O
n March 28, 2015 China’s President Xi Jinping gave a keynote address at the Boao Forum For Asia in Hainan Province which promoted a “community of common destiny”. Xi expounded four points to be implemented: mutual respect and equality; win-win cooperation; common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security; inclusiveness and mutual learning among Asian countries. Further, Xi’s speech showed China’s maritime strategy on the South China Sea (SCS) dispute. Currently, China’s offer on the establishment of the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) engage parties of the disputei.e the Philippines, Viet Nam, Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia. As a result, the Philippines, which asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on 2013, is expected to ask for postponement of the on going legal process; she is to focus on strengthening its economic cooperation with China. China’s political and economic
ties with Viet Nam also got a signiicant
boost when Secretary General of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Nguyen paid a state visit to Beijing in April 7, with Viet Nam showing high interest in joining the MSR. Likewise, China has become more friendly to Malaysia on the SCS dispute. (FF and HN)
restated that the SCS issue was not an ASEAN affair, but a problem of claimants states vis-a-vis China.
The ASEAN vision essentially means developing regional peace and sta-bility, also beyond Southeast Asia. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN-Plus 1 and Plus 3 and the East Asia Summit, are examples of this vision. Indonesia and ASEAN initia-tives in organising the Jakarta Infor-mal Meeting (JIM) have constructively put an end to the attrocities during the Cambodian war. Can ASEAN consider the Cambodia’s civil war
an isolated conlict? What if ASEAN
leaders assume that the Cambodian
conlict was an internal problem and let them continue killing each other?
A
SEAN 26th Summit concludedthat the ASEAN Community must be strenghtened and be more people-centred. There was, however, little consideration to the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, their prosecution, exclusion and violence
against them. Conlict transformation
in the South China Sea (SCS) also received minimal attention from ASEAN.
The SCS issue is distracting ASEAN solidarity; it was deadlocked at the 2012 ASEAN leaders meeting in Cam-bodia. Indonesian Foreign Minister’s diplomacy successfully bridged the deadlock and urged regional leaders to continue with the peaceful transforma-tion of the SCS dispute, by exercising self-restraint. Recently, Cambodia
FORWARD
NEWS UPDATE
OPINION
China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative
Redeining Indonesia’s ASEAN Policy
Towards ASEAN Community - Centrality - Connecivity
Towards ASEAN Community - Centrality - Connecivity
Page 1
Opinion News Update
Page 2 Article
Article Page 3
Activities
Book Review
Page 4
TABLE OF CONTENT
Research Activities
Border Dispute Settlement between Thailand – Cambodia ASEAN and The South China Sea :
Towards Conlict Transformation
Thailand’s Border Problems: The ASEAN Solution
Redeining Indonesia’s ASEAN Policy
China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative
The 26th ASEAN Summit, Kuala Lumpur & Langkawi, 27 April 2015
Any decrease in Indonesian attention of ASEAN could hamper the ASEAN process in building strong regionalism in Southeast Asia. Strategically, it is a political imperative that Indonesia must urge ASEAN to keep on moving forward. ASEAN will remain a corner-stone of Indonesia’s regional policy in a new multiplex world. (RM)
