22vPaX

asia policy
ASEAN’s Immediate Challenges
Most immediately, China’s physical and jurisdictional assertions
create the challenge for ASEAN of agreeing on a collective response. This
challenge, however, is made more complicated by the fact that it is an
intergovernmental organization. Thus, while other governments may have
to manage a constellation of domestic interests and agencies, ASEAN as an
institution is the expression of ten distinct sovereign actors. States differ not
just in the importance they attach to the disputes but also in their relations
with China and the kinds of regional responses they prioritize. ASEAN’s
unprecedented and very public failure to produce a joint communiqué at
its 2012 annual foreign ministers’ meeting chaired by Cambodia in Phnom
Penh dramatically illustrated this challenge. Additionally complicating
ASEAN’s response is the fact that critical differences exist even among the
grouping’s four claimant states. The Philippines and Vietnam have been
the most vocal and active in responding to China’s activities, while Brunei
and Malaysia—even with recently growing Malaysian concerns—have
generally favored softer approaches. Such differences challenge ASEAN’s
efforts to adopt a collective position as well as implement possible ad hoc
workarounds that might facilitate a way forward.
In its response to the South China Sea disputes, ASEAN as a collective
has prioritized the pursuit of a regional code of conduct (CoC) because it
keeps attention on the principles of international law, as well as existing
codes of conduct like ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation.
Following the embarrassment of ASEAN’s 2012 meeting, Indonesia quickly
moved to facilitate ASEAN’s Six-Point Principles on the South China Sea.
This statement identifies the “early conclusion” of a CoC and the “full
implementation” of both ASEAN’s 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in the South China Sea and the 2011 guidelines as important priorities
alongside self-restraint and the nonuse of force by all parties, “full respect”
for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and
the peaceful resolution of disputes. These six principles continue to provide
ASEAN states with an important basis for consensus and action. Indonesia’s
moves to quickly correct the failures of the 2012 ASEAN ministers’ meeting
under Cambodia’s chairmanship are indicative of the understood risks that
the South China Sea disputes pose to the organization.
Notably, however, the CoC is “not meant to be an instrument to settle
disputes.” Instead, its objective is to serve as both “a rules-based framework
containing a set of norms, rules and procedures that guide the conduct of
the parties in the South China Sea” and a confidence-building mechanism
[ 48 ]