Looking Outwards: ASEAN’s External Relations

Abstract

As earlier chapters have shown, the most immediate task for ASEAN’s founders was the development of a basis of understanding and trust between the five member governments. For as long as this remained the main focus of ASEAN’s activities, the question of developing formal relations with external powers was low in the Association’s list of priorities. Although its formation was prompted by the impact of external events on the region, ASEAN in the Bangkok Declaration did not see itself as a mechanism for formal dealings with the outside world. There were no readily apparent advantages for members in such collective approaches, the Association was not mature enough organisationally to cope with external relationships, and members still jealously guarded their national interests.