As tensions mount over North Korea and South China Sea, does Asia needs a new diplomatic forum?
Asia Society report calls for fortifying Asean-based institutions and the East Asia Summit as venues for resolving regional economic and security problems
The escalation in tensions around North Korea and the dominance of the US and China in reaching a resolution underscore the need for a stronger multilateral framework in Asia, said the project director of an Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) report calling for a new approach to economic and security issues in the region.
The report, titled Preserving the Long Peace in Asia, argues that Asean-based institutions and the East Asia Summit (EAS) – both of which include China and the US – should be strengthened as venues for discussion of regional issues and used to offset the tendency of many countries to “shop” for forums that suit their interests better.
“Big countries have to demonstrate that they are accommodating the opinions of smaller countries in the region as well and that they’re not just seeking to say ‘we’re going to do this the way we want to do it or we’re going to gang up in a G2 against you guys’,” Lindsey Ford, Director of Policy-Security Affairs at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
The report was produced to reflect the consensus view of ASPI’s Independent Commission on Regional Security Architecture, which is chaired by former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Other members of the commission include Thomas E. Donilon, National Security Advisor under former US President Barack Obama.