The next Shangri-La Dialogue will take place in Singapore from 2 to 4 June and it is unlikely to be undermined by the ADMM. The former enjoys a much broader base of participants and its informal nature allows more room for the exchange of views. The eventual aim, sources suggest, is for this to develop into an Asian counterpart of the long- established Munich Security Conference.
Robert Karniol JDW Asia-Pacific Editor
Bangkok
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has launched a defence track to supplement its co-operative activities in political, economic and other areas.
The ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) was inaugurated in Kuala Lumpur on 8-9 May, expanding the organisation's security focus beyond the ASEAN Regional Forum's ( ARF) mandate.
The 23-member ARF, established in 1994, brings together foreign ministers to discuss security-related issues from a political perspective and includes a broad range of countries with interests in the region.
"This process is not based on threat perception but rather on a mechanism to increase the level of interaction and confidence-building measures for the whole region and beyond. We want to increase intra-ASEAN dialogue, particularly on defence and security matters," said Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak.
ASEAN has long hesitated to become involved in security issues but interest in these areas has been growing. Defence and security personnel have established a working-level presence at the ARF in recent years, while Singapore, together with the UK-based International Institute of Strategic Studies, launched the informal Shangri-La Dialogue in 2002 to bring together defence ministers from the region and beyond. The creation of a formal mechanism under ASEAN involving defence ministers was first proposed by Thailand and then picked up by Malaysia, the current ASEAN chair.
The inaugural meeting saw ministers attend from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei and Vietnam were represented by deputy ministers, but Myanmar declined to participate.
Initial indications are that membership will be confined to the ASEAN countries, although there is interest in engaging extra-regional partners in some sort of dialogue process.
The first ADMM was mainly focused on establishing an agenda and four objectives were formalised:
* to promote regional peace and stability through dialogue and co-operation in defence and security;
* to provide guidance to existing senior defence and military officials dialogue and co-operation within ASEAN and between ASEAN and its dialogue partners;
* to promote mutual trust and greater understanding of defence policies, threat perceptions and security challenges as well as enhancement of transparency and openness; and
* to contribute to the establishment of an ASEAN Security Community (ASC) as stipulated in the Bali Concord II and promote implementation of the Vientiane Action Programme on ASC.
Participants also agreed to establish a senior officials' meeting to support ADMM activities, but one source told Jane's that tangible progress would be slow.
"Don't expect anything substantive to come out of it any time soon," the source said. "The basic thing is that the member countries don't share a common perspective on security issues and on the big players: the US and China. Still, it's good to be able to sit together for dialogue. It might take some time but, hopefully, this will lead to initiatives in military co-operation in areas like maritime security and counter-terrorism."
The next Shangri-La Dialogue will take place in Singapore from 2 to 4 June and it is unlikely to be undermined by the ADMM. The former enjoys a much broader base of participants and its informal nature allows more room for the exchange of views. The eventual aim, sources suggest, is for this to develop into an Asian counterpart of the long- established Munich Security Conference.
