Post-ASEAN Summit notes

Now that the ASEAN Summit ended, the chairmanship of Cambodia also ended and passed on to Brunei until the end of 2014.

The recent summit marked important milestones for the bloc but also left some lingering issues.

 United front but divided on China Sea territorial dispute. (AFP Photo)

First, the leaders adopted the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration that raises the standards of human rights in the region. But many believe that the declaration has missed a lot of important issues and not even at par with the international standards. NGOs and activists are calling for a more realistic look at the human rights situation in the region. As the ASEAN Summit took place in Phnom Penh, more than 4,000 human rights activists, NGO workers and victims of forced eviction from land grabbing in Cambodia protested near the venue at what they called a rampant human rights violations in the country. US President Barack Obama, who attended the summit after visiting Burma and Thailand, spoke with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen regarding the issue of forced displacements. It was described as a tense meeting between the two leaders. The Cambodian side reportedly replied that forced evictions and land grabbing were a thing of the past but the US President insisted that this serious human rights issue should be addressed.

Burma, who recently showed signs opening up, is also facing condemnation with its handling of the Rohingyas who have been facing endless persecution in Rakhine State. They are constantly attacked and not allowed to move to other states. The Rohingyas are also denied rights to get married without Burmese government approval, get an education or decent jobs since they don’t have nationality cards. Burmese President Thein Sein has vowed to look into the citizenship issue of the Rohingyas and the violence in Rakhine involving Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhine residents. The adoption of the declaration is hailed by leaders as an important step but it would have been more effective if other concerns, especially from human rights NGOs and victims of human rights violations were taken into consideration.

Secondly, the ASEAN Summit also approved the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with its FTA partners like China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. This would lead to a more vigorous trade relation between the bloc and its trading partners. This is also seen as a preparation for the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015 on which free-flow of good, services and labor would take place.

However, the Summit was also marked with tensions involving the South China Sea dispute. During the previous ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in July this year, the bloc failed to come up with a joint communiqué on the South China Sea, which is claimed in whole by China and in part by Taiwan, Viet Nam, Malaysia, Brunei and The Philippines. At the time, The Philippines and China were close to having a military confrontation over Scarborough Shoal, a contested atoll about 300 nautical miles from the Philippines’ Zambales province and more than 1,000 nautical miles from China’s nearest province. China claims that the shoal is part of its historical nine-dash claim while the Philippines insists that it is within its territory under the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (Unclos). The non-issuance of a joint communiqué was blamed at the current chairman Hun Sen, the Cambodian PM who was allegedly pressured by the Chinese. China wants to the address the competing claims bilaterally among claiming ASEAN nations and not through ASEAN or through United Nations.

During the recent Summit from November 18-20, PM Hun Sen again announced that ASEAN leaders had agreed NOT to internationalize the China Sea issue. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III publicly rebuked the Cambodian PM during a meeting with Japan (that also has territorial dispute with China) and ASEAN leaders saying there was no consensus reached and that the Philippines and another country (Viet Nam) did not agree to what Cambodia claimed and it reserved the right to raise the issue whenever it saw fit. Aquino also called on US President Obama to take a stand on the issue. While not directly siding with anyone, Obama said he is supporting a multilateral approach to tackling territorial friction in the South China Sea.

After the Summit, the Philippines announced that four ASEAN countries—the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Viet Nam— claiming part of the South China Sea will have their own dialogue to discuss a collective approach. Obviously, they are not happy with how the Summit turned out without having again another joint communiqué issued.