ASEAN Moves Forward on Regional Security Proposals

In mid March, Malaysia, the ASEAN chair for 2015, hosted the 9th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) in Langkawi. The meeting, and related events, saw progress on a number of regional defense proposals as well as discussions on ongoing security challenges ranging from the Islamic State to the South China Sea.

As with most ADMM meetings, much of the focus was on ongoing security proposals within ASEAN. A concept paper was adopted on Malaysia’s proposal for an ASEAN military team for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), known as the ASEAN Militaries Ready Group. The goal, according to Malaysian officials, is to have a regional force that is able to be quickly and effectively deployed in the event of a crisis. Separately, the ministers also endorsed standard operating procedures for using military assets for HADR.

The meeting also saw progress on an ongoing initiative for the establishment of an ASEAN center for military medicine proposed by Thailand. The plan is for the center to be fully established and running at the Royal Thai Army Military Medical Department in Bangkok, Thailand by this year. That would allow it to begin facilitate training exercises in 2016 and to perform important duties such as information-sharing, inter-agency cooperation, training, research, and holding workshops by 2017.

Movement was made on enhancing ASEAN defense engagements with its eight dialogue partners – Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States under the so-called ADMM-Plus. While ADMM-Plus is currently convened every two years, some dialogue partners including the United States have been requesting that meetings be held more frequently because of the remarkable progress made since it was first convened in 2010. One of the suggested ways to accomplish this is informal meetings between the ADMM and Plus countries at the sidelines of the ADMM or the ADMM Retreat.

In contrast, Malaysia’s idea for an ASEAN peacekeeping force did not make as much headway. The proposal, which would see a standing force drawing on contributions by ASEAN states to deal with internal conflicts, still faces stiff resistance within the grouping. Some ASEAN countries are still unwilling to move beyond a strict adherence to the group’s principles of noninterference and respect for state sovereignty. The challenges to realizing the proposal are formidable, including resource constraints and inexperience in interoperability. Malaysia’s defense minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, who has been actively discussing the idea with other ASEAN officials over the past few months, conceded that the idea would require some time and a lot of negotiations before being realized.

This year’s ADMM also saw discussion on broader global challenges. As ASEAN chair, Malaysia made it a point to highlight regional efforts to counter the Islamic state as a key area of cooperation. That is no surprise considering dozens of Malaysians are already fighting for IS and authorities are struggling to counter the group’s efforts to use the country as a key transfer point and recruiting center. The joint declaration inked at the end of the ADMM stressed the need to counter terrorist, extremist and radical groups through information-sharing, surveillance and promoting public awareness. Hishammuddin also said at a press conference that ASEAN was prepared to “do whatever it takes” to battle the threat. In October, Malaysia is planning to convene an ASEAN Special Ministerial Meeting on radicalism and extremism, planned to be held back-to-back with the meeting on transnational crime.

The South China Sea issue was referenced in the statement, with the ministers underscoring the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight as provided for in international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. But the topic only really grabbed headlines following reports that U.S. Vice Admiral Robert Thomas, the commander of the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet, had suggested in a panel session at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition – held back-to-back with the ADMM meeting – that ASEAN countries could cooperate to form a maritime force to patrol the South China Sea. Thomas also said that the Seventh Fleet would be willing to support ASEAN states if such an initiative were taken.

The proposal was endorsed by Philippine Vice Admiral Jesus Millan, who said that the concept was not far from that of patrols undertaken in the Malacca Straits which began in 2004. But as Millan himself conceded, putting such a cooperative structure in place will not be easy. In addition to the divergent threat perceptions that exist between the various ASEAN states, there are also several practical questions that would need to be answered beforehand, including how to develop standard operating procedures and effectively share equipment and intelligence. Malaysian officials have been quieter about the issue, which reflects the country’s preference for a low-key approach to the South China Sea. The country’s navy chief Admiral Abdul Aziz Jaafar did not directly comment on joint patrols when asked about it, preferring to refer more broadly to maritime security cooperation. Hishammuddin himself bluntly stated at a press conference that Southeast Asia had “bigger concerns” than the South China Sea.

Overall, the ADMM turned out to be quite successful for Malaysia. Advances were made on several key regional initiatives related to humanitarian assistance, military medicine, and engaging major powers, which is important because the end of 2015 will mark the official proclamation of an ASEAN community. And for the most part Malaysia was able to effectively highlight issues that it has prioritized, such as countering the Islamic State, while preventing flare ups on areas that attract significant attention but it prefers to downplay, like the South China Sea. As one of the five original founding members of ASEAN, Malaysia will be looking for more progress on these and other areas through 2015 before it hands the rotating chairmanship over to Laos for the following year.