Panorama of ASEAN Integration

🌟[Transnational Crime: A non - Traditional Security Threat]🌟

🙋Hi guys, how’s it going? This week, we will focus on transnational crime which has been emerging as a very serious menace to regional security and stability of ASEAN Community.

⏳Transnational crime is considered as one of non - traditional security issues threatening regional security, stability and economic integration process of ASEAN member countries. Recently, this kind of crime has been expanding and becoming increasingly organised with lots of types of criminal activities such as drug trafficking, human trafficking or money laundering. Especially, during Covid-19 pandemic period, social distancing and high demand on online working have led to an increase in the number of cyber crimes with many new sophisticated expedients, which directly affect many areas of social life, and cause difficulties for ASEAN countries in fighting to build a peaceful and stable ASEAN Community.

🎯It is clear that transnational crime has had enormous impacts on ASEAN Community. Hence, regional cooperation in fighting to prevent transnational crime is an inevitable trend. Most recently, the 14th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC 14) has been held with the purpose to build a cohesive and responsive ASEAN in the transnational crime fight and at the same time, contribute to maintain the regional peace, security, and stability.

🔑To uphold the “cohesive and responsive” spirit to work together in combating transnational crime for the development of a politically cohesive, economically integrated, and socially responsible ASEAN Community, ASEAN countries should enhance more cooperation and exchange experience in combating transnational crime to ensure regional security and safety.🤝🤝
❓Question: From your perspective, is this ASEAN’s effort effective enough to prevent and control transnational crime?

👋👋 Good evening, guys!

🥰 Thank you so much for your constructive ideas on the last discussion about ASEAN non-traditional security. On this Thursday, we are still keeping the focus on this topic, but with a specific matter rising over the last decades and affecting profoundly to the whole bloc, which is climate change.

🔑 As you know, environmental security is one of the most prominent elements of non-traditional security, which has a complex relationship interwoven with society, economy, and politics. Apart from emerging issues regarding environmental security within a country, there are also a number of transnational environmental concerns that require countries to cooperate and respond. A prime example is global climate change. ASEAN is reported to be extremely vulnerable, especially when sea levels rise and pose dire consequences for lowland communities. This can be clearly noticed with several storms and floods in Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines recently. Recognising the threat, many countries in the bloc have committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as promote the use of alternative energy; yet, it is not that easy, especially when attention and resources are being allocated to post-COVID economic recovery.

📌 For ASEAN, a truly multilateral effort is necessitated to achieve meaningful progress, and the first step is to join hands as a climate-act community, working towards a common goal heading to The UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in November this year. COVID-19 pandemic is emphasizing the need to build resilience to any possible risks in the future. Moreover, ASEAN’s determination to combat climate change is likely to create positive changes in both climatic outlook and other aspects such as economics and politics.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
❓❗️ Question: As a community being now under a pressing circumstance of COVID-19, should ASEAN prioritize economic recovery or work on mitigating and building resilience to climate change first?

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) enters its fifth decade, ASEAN has much to discuss and cooperate with. To achieve a comprehensive security community, ASEAN responses to security threats are not just a state’s job but relying on intergovernmental and inter-agency cooperation. This decade presents ASEAN countries with new security challenges- nontraditional security (NTS).
Non-traditional security issues are challenges to the survival and well-being of both peoples and states that affect different communities globally. A number of major NTS threats facing ASEAN are climate change, pandemics, natural disasters,.. that are pushing ASEAN to review its principle of comprehensive security and adopt more progressive security practices. In response to such threats to its regional security, ASEAN has convened important meetings among its member states with an aim to evaluate and enhance their capacity of dealing with these challenges.
Early this year, ASEAN held the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat, which was chaired by the Second Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei Darussalam, via video conference to advance ASEAN’s comprehensive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The ASEAN Vision 2025 also strongly states the importance of regional cooperation and its central role in addressing effectively and in a timely manner existing and emerging challenges, including non-traditional security issues.
As an organization and as individual member countries, ASEAN has been undergoing major changes that have important implications for the future. Hopefully, 2021 will await more positive outcomes and strong aspirations from ASEAN community to ensure a safe and secure environment. 🕊🕊🕊

❓ Besides COVID-19, what threats do you think ASEAN countries have to face in 2021? Are you coming up with any ideas to encounter such intractable problems? 🤔

🤗🤗 How have you been, our dear readers?

📝 In the previous post, we received lots of comments that mentioned the South China Sea disputes as the leading factor threatening ASEAN’s ability to enhance the regional political security. Therefore, our post this week will continue with this theme but concentrate on the regional efforts in solving the maritime disputes in the South China Sea. 🚢🚢

🔍 The South China Sea disputes have been becoming one of the most pressing issues for ASEAN countries. The ambition of extending oceanic influences and groundless claims of China on the South China Sea maritime sovereignty has made marine disputes with ASEAN countries increasingly strained. That drives ASEAN members to take urgent actions aiming at relieving these tensions to ensure the regional peace and stability.

🎯 One of ASEAN’s noticeable efforts in confronting the conflicts in the South China Sea is the agreement of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) at the 8th ASEAN - China Summit in 2002. Roughly speaking, this DOC ensured that China’s presence in the South China Sea did not violate the principle of peaceful coexistence. Despite this effort, the South China Sea tensions still had been lasting and continuously escalating, requiring ASEAN Community to build the South China Sea Code of Conduct (COC) - a more robust agreement to resolve these disputes.

📌 Recently, in the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat (AMM Retreat) 2021, ASEAN leaders have called member states for upholding the principle of restraint, not militarization, obeying the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, the DOC as well as attempting to achieve an effective COC.

⚓ Obviously, many endeavors have been made to solve disputes in the South China Sea, however these disputes will be a hard test to strengthen the regional peace and security. Hence, efforts to alleviate these clashes of maritime sovereignty are expected to continue. 🤝🤝
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
❓Question: Which ASEAN’s efforts do you notice in solving the maritime disputes in the South China Sea despite the serious epidemic situation?

🙋‍♀️ Good evening, our beloved followers! We are back today with a new theme: ASEAN’s integration in traditional political security! 🤩🤩
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
⏳ While economic integration has been considered as a cross-cutting target and attached the greatest importance in the progress of ASEAN integration, the political-security has been the foundation ensuring the stability of other integrations. In this respect, ASEAN Political - Security Community (APSC) - one of three vital constituent pillars of the ASEAN Community was first officially touted in the 2003 Bali Concord II. 🚩🚩

🚀 As its name suggests, APSC’s principles to approach the political and security issues and developments consist of preserving regional peace and stability, adopting a comprehensive approach to security challenges and developing friendly and mutually beneficial relations with external partners. 🎯🎯

🔎 With the intention of providing a roadmap and timetable to establish the APSC by 2015, the first APSC Blueprint was adopted on 1 March 2009. However, there were some shortages of its action plans in the promotion of human rights and cooperation for good governance. Therefore, the next APSC Blueprint 2025 will be conceived to build an ASEAN Community with four more completed characteristics:
☑ A rules - based, people - oriented, people - centred community bound by fundamental principles, shared values and norms;
☑ A cohesive, peaceful, stable and resilient region with shared responsibility for comprehensive security;
☑ A dynamic and outward - looking region in an increasingly integrated and interdependent world;
☑ A community with strengthened institutional capacity and presence.

📌 In recent years, with the rapid development of other political - security blocs in the world, ASEAN Community certainly will have to deal with forward challenges. Hence, to create a peaceful, stable and prosperous ASEAN Community, the member countries should constantly consolidate mutual beliefs and jointly settle the regional crisis issues. 🤝🤝
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

❓Question: From your point of view, what are the key factors that threaten ASEAN’s ability to enhance regional security?

👋 𝓗𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓸, 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓼!

Hope you all had a well-spent holiday and fully recharged yourselves to welcome the year ahead.

📑 Our post this week remains discussing the economic integration within ASEAN members and particularly brings the regional efforts in confronting the coronavirus pandemic and recovering the economy into focus.

🌏 Broadly speaking, COVID-19 has been a tremendous disruptor to the whole globe with countless repercussions confronting several aspects of life. As being located right below China, the virus’s country of origin, Southeast Asia is no exception to the severe impacts caused by this menace, especially the ones regarding the economic sector. Thus, the whole bloc has undertaken numerous initiatives and promoted regional cooperation with the aim of staying resilient to the unwanted crisis as well as giving a better outlook to the economy that was substantially hampered.

☑️ One of the responses taken by the whole community was the organization of high-level meetings. Not only in the special ASEAN summit but also in the context of the 36th and 37th summits, state economies have been erected as the first line of defense against COVID-19. Also, economic stimulus packages combined with tax breaks for MSMEs (the most vulnerable enterprises) have been introduced, which resulted in highly positive outcomes within and between countries.

🤝 Thankfully, apart from the internal attempts, the great support from international financial institutions namely the IMF, World Bank, and ADB has contributed notably to tackle the post-COVID economic downturn.

🎯 How long the pandemic will last is not well anticipated; hence, ASEAN countries should keep up the existing initiatives and develop more conscious policies to be able to deal with any economic shocks in the future.

❓ Question: As an ASEAN citizen, what policies would you recommend to the bloc's decision-makers to alleviate the problems generated by COVID-19?

Hey, what’s up everybody! It’s us again. How are ya? ✌

Today is the last day of the old year, and with only a few hours left, Vietnamese people will welcome The Year of Ox (Tan Suu 2021). 🐃
At this special moment, we’d like to send our sincere thanks to you guys - our beloved subscribers for your support to our fanpage. This post, hence, is dedicated to wishing you a happy lunar new year in every language of ASEAN. (And we guess you guys learn something new too, right?) 😁

Hopefully, in the new year, our fanpage will keep receiving big support and, of course, more and more interesting yet informative posts coming up after the holiday.
🎉 Happy Lunar New Year 2021! 🎉

🌟Monday Learning🌟

📣 Are you busy preparing for “Tet”?
We know that you’re pretty tired these days, so let’s take a break to enjoy some interesting sharing that we have this evening, about ASEAN film and music. 🎭🎼

🚀 Have you ever suffered being in a borderline between friends and lovers? If you haven’t, you’re lucky, we would say. If you have, “Friendzone” 👍❤️ is gonna be your movie of choice that somewhat relates to your relationship. This Thai romantic comedy made a great sensation over Southeast Asia in 2019 with not only its jocular yet tear-jerky story of a couple, but also some following facts:

✔️ This movie was filmed not only in famous places in Thailand like Chiang Mai, Krabi island, but also in other ASEAN countries including Myanmar, Malaysia,v.v. Many scenes were evaluated as spectacular as a music video or travel movie that could inspire you to pack your things and go on a trip across Southeast Asia right away.
✔️ The OST of this movie was performed by 10 well-known singers from different countries, 9 of which are from ASEAN members including: Laos, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand.

🚀 It’s widely agreed by the audiences that the success of the movie is achieved partially thanks to the subtle combination of various sceneries from many ASEAN countries as well as the excellent featuring made by artists of different cultures.

🔑 Besides the outstanding points in terms of visual and sound, we can clearly see the integration between ASEAN countries depicted through them. Undeniably, regional integration of ASEAN has been noticed more and more in many aspects of life.

🎯 And now, just scroll down as we have listed the Southeast Asian celebrities participating in the movie OST below. Sadly, Brunei and Singapore weren’t shown in this comedy, but we still would like to include two top singers of these countries as well.

📝 Feel free to mention your favorite singers or recommend other works of similar type in the comment section. 👇
Thank you so much. Enjoy the very last moments in the Year of the Rat.🐭🐭🐭

OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5onvE2ZUqvw

👋 How is it going, guys? Hope that you are doing well however hard the pandemic situation is. 💞

The theme that we are handling these 2 weeks is ASEAN economic integration and we would like to firstly discuss the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which is believed to give a fresh start to the new integration process.
_________________________________

⌛ It was not until December 31, 2015, when the declaration of establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was officially validated after several formations and development plans that the turning point in the history of ASEAN cooperation was marked, constituting a unified economic community for a populated and culturally diverse area.

🎯 Right from the beginning of its operation, the plan AEC 2015 has achieved noticeable results in various fields namely eliminating tariffs, facilitating trade among its members, and strengthening ASEAN's relations with foreign partners.

🔑 The AEC Blueprint 2025 will be based on the current AEC plan (2015), which consists of 5 interdependent features:
▪️ A Highly Integrated and Cohesive Economy;
▪️ A Competitive, Innovative, and Dynamic ASEAN;
▪️ Enhanced Connectivity and Sectoral Cooperation;
▪️ A Resilient, Inclusive, People-Oriented, and People-Centred ASEAN; and
▪️ A Global ASEAN.

📝 It can be said that the AEC plays a vital role in the process of forming the ASEAN Community and bringing ASEAN to a new outlook as a dynamic and prosperous region. Joining the AEC is both an opportunity and a challenge for its members in deep and comprehensive regional integration, and at the same time enhances intra-regional cohesion.
_________________________________

❓Question:
What are the economic benefits and obstacles that ASEAN countries have got from being members of AEC?

|ASEAN STUDENT SUMMER CAMP|
🥰ASEAN includes a community called Socio-Cultural Community with its primary goal is to contribute to realizing an ASEAN Community that is people-centered and socially responsible. Specifically, education is recognized as the key element in human development of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. In order to enormously contribute to create a sense of belonging to the ASEAN Community and understanding of the richness of ASEAN’s history, languages, culture and common values, numerous attractive activities have been undertaken namely summer camp patterns, short-term and long-term exchange programs.
🤗We would like to introduce to you a joyful event named ASEAN Student Summer Camp (ASEAN SSC), which is hosted by a country every year. Vietnam was proudly the first host of the program in 2017. 🤗
Joining this cultural event, ASEAN students will be granted opportunities to exchange knowledge about their culture, conduct social activities, learn about the lifestyle in different parts of each country, enhance the solidarity and create long-lasting friendly relations in the ASEAN community.🤝🤝🤝
Hopefully, when the pandemic situation is better, ASEAN students can be a part of the most awaited summer camp this year!🔥🔥🔥
Are you ready for a memorable experience? Bring your stamina and your friendliest smile to the next ASEAN Student Summer Camp. 😉

❓ As the host of the next ASEAN Student Summer Camp in Vietnam, what values/activities do you want to bring/share to this event?

Source: The Beauty of ASEAN Countries