Debated in Parliament on 5 Aug 2019.
Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether he can explain the objectives and significance of the framework for co-operation across the Indo-Pacific region that was endorsed on 23 June 2019 at the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok.
Southeast Asia is no stranger to big power dynamics and proxy wars. We experienced them during the Cold War. However, today the strategic environment is more complex. The international system is much more interdependent. ASEAN Member States have deep connections to all the major powers. We will need clear-eyed realism and acute situational awareness to navigate in the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape.
As a group, ASEAN must maintain its strategic autonomy, and not allow Southeast Asia again to become an arena of great power rivalry. If ASEAN takes sides, or is forced to take sides, we will lose our independence of action, and end up making invidious choices which will be inimical to our interests in the long-run.
It is thus important for ASEAN to maintain our relevance and to uphold ASEAN Centrality in the regional architecture. Not just geographically, but also effectively in the role that ASEAN plays maintaining a stable region and engaging the major powers, so that they can participate in and contribute to the region’s security and prosperity. The current inclusive regional architecture seeks to achieve this. We have continuously refreshed and enhanced the alphabet soup of overlapping ASEAN-centric forums, such as the ASEAN Plus Three, East Asia Summit, ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus, and ASEAN Regional Forum.
We should continue to look for ways to strengthen the current ASEAN-led regional architecture. ASEAN’s external partners have put forth various formulations to articulate their respective visions of what they now call the Indo-Pacific region. ASEAN should not merely adopt one or other of these proposals in order to win favour with its author.
The ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific was born out of the desire to formulate a coherent and cohesive response to these formulations. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers had a candid discussion on the draft of the Outlook at our Working Dinner on 21 June 2019 in the lead up to the ASEAN Summit.
The Outlook was adopted by the Leaders at the recent Summit. It will be a "living document", continually refined and updated to advance the existing, inclusive ASEAN-centric regional architecture as the strategic context evolves. It is underpinned by three principles: ASEAN Centrality and unity, economic development in the region, including through increasing connectivity, and upholding a rules-based order anchored on international law. All three principles are vital for Singapore’s own survival and prosperity as a small city-state.
The Outlook will not stop strategic forces from pulling individual ASEAN Member States in different directions. ASEAN unity – the pre-requisite for ASEAN Centrality – will be tested. Our inherent diversity will make internal coherence difficult, but ultimately more necessary too.
PAPERCUTS