ASEAN’s challenges in the South China Sea
ASEAN’s challenges in the South China Sea
WRITTEN BY CHARMAINE MISALUCHA-WILLOUGHBY
22 May 2020
Amid concerns over COVID-19, tensions in the South China Sea have been sparked anew with China’s deployment of a survey ship to the region over the course of April 2020. This came on the heels of other assertive activities, including the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing trawler on April 2, deploying the aircraft carrier Liaoning past Okinawa and Taiwan and into the South China Sea over the course of April 13 to 28, and the creation of two new administrative districts -Xisha and Nansha- in the contested waters on April 20.
While initial steps have been taken to address the issues in the South China Sea, the maritime domain remains challenging for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). To be fair, however, ASEAN has more experience in conflict management rather than conflict resolution. Indeed, ASEAN as a regional organisation is more a facilitator instead of an active mediator, a broker of great power relations, a primary manager in Southeast Asia, and a conductor of the regional order.
The twin crises now facing Southeast Asia, with the militarization of the South China Sea and the COVID-19 pandemic, make it incumbent upon ASEAN as a regional organization to respond collectively and reexamine or reinvent its norms
Hence in regard to the South China Sea dispute, ASEAN’s role arguably has never been to resolve it but only to become a platform on which claimant states can negotiate a solution. Still, the challenge to ASEAN is to agree on a collective response to China’s assertive moves, ideally through the conclusion of the Code of Conduct. A task that is proving to be extremely difficult, not least because ASEAN is an intergovernmental organization with varying positions, responses, and interests reflective of its member states.
A second challenge steers ASEAN towards more introspection. The organization has often prided itself with a series of principles that have come to be collectively known as the ASEAN Way. These principles put a premium on sovereignty and the attendant non-interference in member states’ domestic affairs, as well as the decision-making procedures based on consultation and consensus.
The ASEAN Way became the basis for claims that ASEAN has been able to successfully engage with and socialize China into joining various multilateral forums. The success of this “complex engagement,” however, is due less to the ASEAN Way and more to China’s own emphasis in diplomacy and embrace of multilateralism as an attempt to redefine its position in international relations.
It is logical to posit that ASEAN’s inability to come up with a common position in the South China Sea dispute may be due to the rather dated norms and principles that have remained unchanged despite the geopolitical complexities that have developed since 1967. Changing these deeply embedded norms, however, is just as difficult.
The third challenge for ASEAN in the South China Sea is the role that non-traditional security issues play. Although no stranger to natural calamities and epidemics, the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented. The number of confirmed cases in Southeast Asia is now around 63,000 with close to 2,000 deaths. Add to this the attendant losses caused by lockdowns, flight cancellations, and factory closures and Southeast Asia faces an economic disaster in the making that will require all of its energies to confront. At the very least, the ramifications of these supply chain disruptions will be felt well into 2021 or even beyond. How this translates to the viability of the ASEAN Economic Community very much remains to be seen.
The so-called new normal will require ASEAN to confront traditional and non-traditional security issues at the same time. The twin crises now facing Southeast Asia with the militarization of the South China Sea and the COVID-19 pandemic, make it incumbent upon ASEAN as a regional organization to respond collectively and reexamine or reinvent its norms. Unfortunately, neither seems feasible at this point
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.
Author biography
Charmaine Misalucha-Willoughby is a Research Fellow, Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Associate Professor of International Studies, De La Salle University Manila, Philippines. Image credit: Jaws300/Flickr.