INTRODUCTION

ASEAN provides a “reality check” for regionalism in East Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region. It can suggest the kind of regional cooperation that can be promoted and the extent to which regional integration can be deepened.

Two points need to be made at the outset. The first is that the ASEAN region consists of a diverse set of countries, some of which have gained independence and sovereignty only within the previous generation. There are major gaps in their economic capabilities, and some have begun to open up economic and political systems only in the last decade. And yet, they have come together and committed themselves to the creation of an ASEAN Community. The second is that ASEAN has been engaged in efforts to promote cooperation and community building with other nations in the wider regional context of East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, both bilaterally through regular exchanges with Dialogue Partners and regionally in the ASEAN Plus Three (APT), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) process, and even inter- regionally with Europe through the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) and Latin America through the Forum for East Asia Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC). These interactions have an impact on ASEAN cooperation, and have also resulted in dynamic developments in the wider region.

ASEAN Style of Regionalism

In Asia, ASEAN is the first attempt at regional community building. ASEAN is an ongoing experiment in community building. It began in 1967 as a regional cooperation arrangement to promote welfare and peace in Southeast Asia. In that sense, it was based on some vision of regional order and regional community. Building this regional community began with some modesty. The regional arrangement sought to promote cooperation in the economic and social fields. This was understandable. The region had just opened up a new page in its history. Having gained independence and having experienced continued internal turmoil for about two decades, and more importantly, having ended political animosities, the five original members of ASEAN embarked on the path of community building by taking steps to learn more about each other and to learn to live together in harmony and peace.