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ASEAN Indo-Pacific Outlook: Low hanging fruit?
Now that ASEAN has come up with a common vision of what the future of the Indo-Pacific region should look like, what will be the next steps?The ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, endorsed by leaders in their summit in Bangkok in July, still has to gain a stronger foothold within ASEAN itself, before gaining wider acceptance from outside, particularly from countries with a stake in the region’s future
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ow that ASEAN has come up with a common vision of what the future of the Indo-Pacific region should look like, what will be the next steps?
The ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, endorsed by leaders in their summit in Bangkok in July, still has to gain a stronger foothold within ASEAN itself, before gaining wider acceptance from outside, particularly from countries with a stake in the region’s future.
Even as the 10-member organization puts together its plan of action to follow up on the outlook, some collaboration programs under the Indo-Pacific regional architecture can be already undertaken to highlight its benefits, its potential and its immense possibilities. ASEAN can start with the low hanging fruit approach through programs involving two or more countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
One example is the development of business connectivity between Indonesia’s northern Aceh province and India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean. This program falls under the Shared Vision of the India-Indonesia Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, combining Indonesia’s Global Maritime Fulcrum and India’s Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).
This initial bilateral program could easily be expanded into a multilateral program by bringing the existing Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle into the picture.
Rather than substituting or undermining other Indo-Pacific concepts already on the table, the ASEAN Outlook can work in conjunction with them. Besides SAGAR, there is Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, which recognizes ASEAN’s central and pivotal role in building connectivity to link countries straddling the Pacific and Indian oceans.
ASEAN [ ...] needs more time and substantive preparations, particularly in coming up with a workable plan of action.
ASEAN has the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC), the only such plan to connect the Indo-Pacific region. Japan’s FOIP and ASEAN’s outlook could bring the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation into the larger connectivity master plan.
A salient feature of the ASEAN Outlook is its inclusive nature that enables it to work with other platforms, whether bilateral, triangular or multilateral.
ASEAN has already many experiences in triangular cooperation. Some connectivity projects under the MPAC, such as the 2003 to 2006 road rehabilitation project near the border between Laos and Myanmar, involve Thailand, China and the Asia Development Bank as development partners.
The ASEAN Outlook complements not only with other Indo-Pacific platforms, such as the United States’ Free and Open Indo-Pacific and the Australia’s Stable and Prosperous Indo-Pacific, but also with China’s Belt and Road Initiative and even with other potential development partners, such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
What about collaboration with Africa, at the other end of the Indian Ocean? ASEAN needs to start engaging with the African Union, perhaps inviting it as a dialogue partner under the ASEAN Plus One mechanism. With the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area this year, the time could not have been more opportune.
Currently, only Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam among the 10 ASEAN members hold regular business forums with Africa. Indonesia is Africa’s biggest trading partner in ASEAN, with a total trade value of US$10.38 billion in 2018, followed by Malaysia ($7.53 billion) and Vietnam ($6.6 billion).
The ASEAN Outlook has given the Southeast Asian nations a new platform to play an active and central role in shaping the future of this emerging Indo-Pacific region.
The record time with which ASEAN reached a consensus, less than two years — thus breaking the long held myth of the slow ASEAN Way — also means that many in the region need time to digest and understand the significance of this development for Southeast Asia and for the world.
ASEAN should therefore not rush itself into implementing the outlook. It needs more time and substantive preparations, particularly in coming up with a workable plan of action that accommodates and reconciles the diverse interests of the member countries.
As chair of ASEAN beginning in January 2020, Vietnam would lead the discussions in developing this plan, which should reflect the areas of cooperation stated in the outlook: maritime cooperation, connectivity, Sustainable Development Goals and economic cooperation.
The outlook comes with the spirit of inclusivity. This means all Indo-Pacific countries, regardless of their economic size, have equal stake in determining the future of the region, one that guarantees peace and prosperity for everyone.
Ongoing economic cooperation projects within the region are the low hanging fruits to help push ourselves as we go after these higher and loftier ambitions stated in the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.
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Former director of the Center of Policy Analysis and Development on the Asia-Pacific and African Region at the Foreign Ministry. The views expressed are his own.
