Tiarma Siboro, Yogyakarta | Thu, 04/28/2011 | Opinion
The long-standing commitment of ASEAN to maintaining peace and security in the region and the world has been put to an uphill test with the fresh conflict between Thailand and Cambodia in the border area of Preah Vihear, which has so far claimed 11 lives.
Border disputes between the two neighbors have become causes for concern across the region since early in February.
It seems like a coincidence that the exchanges of fire at the Thailand-Cambodia border occurred amid rounds of ASEAN defense dialogues, which were aimed at crystalizing cooperation and coordination in regional security.
The series of defense meetings, which involve ASEAN top-level defense officials and is hosted by Indonesia, the current chair of the regional grouping, started in February of this year in Surabaya. Eight partner states — the US, China, Japan, Russia, India, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia — have also actively taken part in the talks.
In the first round of meetings and during the second round now underway in Yogyakarta, all participants agreed to discuss five areas of cooperation: maritime security, counterterrorism, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), peacekeeping operations and military medicine.
Concept papers of the five cooperation areas are now being drafted by the delegations and are supposed to reflect the goodwill of each participating country to address the future challenges.
It should be highlighted, however, that potential disputes involving ASEAN members and dialogue partners in connection with border territories and maritime security issues remain major problems that need to be resolved as soon as possible.
The border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia is a case in point. The only solution that can be proposed by Indonesia as chair of ASEAN is to encourage the warring states to promote dialogue.
As the case has been filed with the UN Security Council, Indonesia has proposed deployment of observers to bordering Cambodian and Thai territories without holding a mandate as mediator. Should any dialogue be facilitated by the Indonesian government, it would have taken place in a corridor of so-called “informal sessions.”
As an organization that consists of countries with various, if not conflicting, interests, ASEAN finds difficulties in settling border disputes because of the sanctity of the non-interference principle.
ASEAN indeed has a dispute settlement mechanism under the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), which mandates the establishment of a high council made up of ministerial representatives from the parties as a dispute-settlement mechanism.
The treaty enshrines the following principles: mutual respect for one another’s sovereignty; noninterference in internal affairs; the peaceful settlement of intraregional disputes; and effective cooperation.
Until today, the TAC, as a code of conduct, remains the only indigenous regional diplomatic instrument providing a mechanism and process for the peaceful settlement of disputes among member states.
Nevertheless encouraging the council to mediate talks between Thailand and Cambodia appears
to be out of context because it is
not authorized to address border disputes.
Border disputes have also marred relations between Indonesia and Malaysia. After the Sipadan-Ligitan case, the two ASEAN co-founders have been embroiled in yet another protracted territorial dispute over oil and gas-rich Ambalat waters in the Sulawesi Strait. Not to mention sporadic disputes over fishing zones along their maritime boundaries.
Another potential dispute confronts ASEAN member countries and their dialogue partners, especially China, which aims to expand its sphere of influence across the South China Sea and its surrounding islands: Spratly and Paracel.
Talking about the South China Sea issue should not be limited to the ongoing debate over sovereignty and ownership of the two islands. More than that, it should take into consideration the right to explore and exploit natural resources within the Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) and on the use of technology.
History has shown that the quarrels over the South China Sea and Spratly and Paracel Islands has many things to do with the heavy interests of the UK, France, Japan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Breaking down the disputes into bilateral conflicts, the South China Sea issue may pose an obstacle to future relationship between China and Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan, the Philippines and China, Malaysia and Vietnam, the Philippines and Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei and Taiwan and China.
The South China Sea has remained a hot topic in any forum gathering ASEAN and its eight dialogue partners, including during the ongoing ASEAN defense dialogue.
For sure, the South China Sea is of great interest to Indonesia, and it risks spoiling its good relationship with China in the future. A conflict between Indonesia and China looks unavoidable because the EEZ that China has claimed overlaps Indonesian waters around the Natuna Islands, should the two countries refer to the UNCLOS 1982.
Natuna is economically beneficial for Indonesia. It is known as one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers. Apart from the huge volume of oil and gas reserves, maritime territory surrounding the Natuna Islands is economically strategic because it connects big cities in East Asia. Therefore, security issues become crucial here.
Now with such potential disputes lying ahead, ASEAN and its dialogue partners are working together in exploring five areas of cooperation during the annual defense talks. But skepticism has been rife as to whether the commitment of the participating states will be able to minimize potential conflicts and promote accommodation of security, political and economic agendas of the respective participating
countries.
Without strong commitment and firm mechanisms in settling border disputes, the concept paper of defense cooperation will only add to the piles of partnership documents that ASEAN has endorsed. The nature of ASEAN to address disputes based on consensus of togetherness — known as the ASEAN way — and the spirit of kinship should not to be taken for granted.
The writer is a graduate of the Indonesian Defense University.
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