ASEAN after the Cold War, 1991-2000

H2 History - syllabus 9174, 2027

What this lesson teaches

  • I can judge how well ASEAN built stability, security and economic cooperation in the region over time.

    Syllabus 9174, Paper 2, Theme III, Learning Outcomes. evaluate the outcomes of ASEAN's efforts in building regional stability and security and promoting regional economic cooperation over time

Make a guess

ASEAN began with five members in 1967. How many do you think it had by 1999?

  1. Still five, because it refused new members.
  2. Twenty, after China and Japan joined.
  3. Ten, including former enemies such as Vietnam.
Show the answer

Ten, including former enemies such as Vietnam.

Brunei joined in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999.

After 1991 ASEAN deepened economic cooperation, expanded to ten members and built forums to engage the major powers.

With the Cold War over, ASEAN turned more to economics. At the 1992 Singapore summit it agreed to create the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), gradually cutting tariffs between members. Before this, trade between ASEAN states had been a small share of their total trade.

ASEAN expanded. Brunei had joined in 1984. Vietnam joined in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999, making ten members. Former enemies now sat together.

ASEAN built forums to engage external powers. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), first held in 1994, brought the major powers into security dialogue. After the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, ASEAN Plus Three meetings with China, Japan and South Korea began.

Limits remained. The ASEAN Way, decisions by consensus and non-interference, preserved unity but often meant inaction. ASEAN could do little during the 1997 crisis. Disputes in the South China Sea, such as China's occupation of Mischief Reef in 1995, also tested its influence.

AFTA
Agreed at the 1992 Singapore summit.
Enlargement
Brunei 1984; Vietnam 1995; Laos and Myanmar 1997; Cambodia 1999.
ASEAN Regional Forum
First held 1994.
ASEAN Plus Three
Began after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

Real examples to use

AFTA, Singapore, 28 January 1992

Members agreed to cut tariffs on goods traded between them to 0 to 5 per cent within 15 years.

ASEAN Regional Forum, 25 July 1994

Its first meeting in Bangkok was the first time most Asia-Pacific powers met only to discuss security.

Mischief Reef, February 1995

The Philippines found that China had built structures on a reef about 130 nautical miles from Palawan, testing whether ASEAN dialogue could restrain China.

Worked example: Evaluating ASEAN's economic outcomes

An H2 question asks how far ASEAN promoted regional economic cooperation.

  1. Before 1992: preferential trade and joint projects achieved little.
  2. After 1992: AFTA created a framework for freer trade.
  3. Dialogue partners helped attract investment.
  4. Limit: national interests and the 1997 crisis showed the limits of cooperation.

Watch out for this

ASEAN had ten members from its founding.

It had five founding members in 1967. Brunei joined in 1984, and the others joined between 1995 and 1999.

Check your understanding

What was the ASEAN Regional Forum?

  1. A forum for security talks including the major powers, first held in 1994
  2. ASEAN's free trade area, agreed at the Singapore summit to cut tariffs
  3. A military alliance between ASEAN and the USA
Show the answer

A forum for security talks including the major powers, first held in 1994

Right. It engaged external powers in regional security.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

  • The USA stays out of the Sabah dispute

    Paraphrase of an action memorandum from Assistant Secretary of State William Bundy to Secretary of State Rusk, 20 May 1968.

  • A CIA assessment of ASEAN

    Paraphrase of a CIA paper, "Regionalism in Southeast Asia: The Growth of ASEAN", 1 January 1981.

  • The USA should consult ASEAN

    Paraphrase of a memorandum from the Director of the State Department's Office of Regional Affairs, East Asia, 31 January 1977.

  • Thailand considers an ASEAN response

    Paraphrase of a telegram from the US embassy in Bangkok to the State Department, 4 January 1979.

  • Lee Kuan Yew on ASEAN's position

    Paraphrase of a letter from Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew to President Carter, 1 March 1979.

  • the founding aims, 1967

    Paraphrase of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration), signed by the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, 8 August 1967.

  • the leaders report progress, 1977

    Paraphrase of the Joint Communique of the Second ASEAN Heads of Government Meeting, Kuala Lumpur, 5 August 1977.

  • an American intelligence assessment, 1981

    Extract from "Regionalism in Southeast Asia: The Growth of ASEAN", a research paper by the CIA's National Foreign Assessment Center, 1 January 1981, published in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, volume XXII, document 149. A US government document in the public domain.

  • a free trade area, 1992

    Paraphrase of the preamble and Article 2 of the Framework Agreement on Enhancing ASEAN Economic Cooperation, adopted by the six ASEAN heads of government at the Fourth ASEAN Summit, Singapore, 28 January 1992.

  • bold measures after the crisis, 1998

    Paraphrase of the Statement on Bold Measures, issued by ASEAN leaders at the Sixth ASEAN Summit, Hanoi, 16 December 1998.

  • Vietnam joins ASEAN, 1995

    Extract from the Joint Communique of the 28th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, Bandar Seri Begawan, 29-30 July 1995, paragraph 2, as circulated by Brunei Darussalam to the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council (UN document A/49/953-S/1995/652).

  • ASEAN welcomes Laos and Myanmar, 1997

    Paraphrase of paragraph 2 of the Joint Communique of the 30th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, Subang Jaya, Malaysia, 24-25 July 1997.

  • the American Secretary of State on Burma, 1997

    Extract from an address by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to the Pacific Council on International Policy and the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Los Angeles, 23 July 1997, the day before she left for the ASEAN meetings in Kuala Lumpur. Released by the State Department, 24 July 1997. A US government document in the public domain.

  • Cambodia must wait, 1997

    Paraphrase of paragraph 15 of the Joint Communique of the 30th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, Subang Jaya, Malaysia, 24-25 July 1997, written after fighting in Phnom Penh between the forces of Cambodia's two co-prime ministers in early July.

  • narrowing the gap, 2000

    Paraphrase of the Chairman's Statement of the Fourth ASEAN Informal Summit, Singapore, 24 November 2000, on the Initiative for ASEAN Integration.

  • a cartoon about expansion, 1997

    An original cartoon drawn for these notes in the style of a regional newspaper cartoon published in late July 1997, after ASEAN admitted Laos and Myanmar and postponed Cambodia's entry. It is not a copy of a real cartoon. The words of the figure at the window echo Source C.

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