ASEAN summit ends without upset
Updated
Massive security and meticulous planning have allowed ASEAN's current chair, Thailand, to host a trouble-free summit in the beach resort of Hua Hin.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has hailed the meeting a huge success, focussing as it did, on economic integration, climate change and disaster management. The meeting also heard from Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd about his push for an Asia Pacific Community to encourage regional cooperation on issues of security.
Presenter: Karen Percy, South East Asia correspondent,
Speakers: Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister; Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand's prime minister; Thitinan Pongsudhirak, an political commentator
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PERCY: South East Asian leaders are hailing the success of their latest regional summit, which concluded with ASEAN and its partners promising to work closely together on economic integration climate change and disaster management.
And they discussed the long term future of the group and the East Asia summit forum .. as the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, outlined his ideas for creating a bigger and bolder grouping.
It would meld the APEC and ASEAN groups .. to create a far-reaching alliance that would have security issues at its heart.
RUDD: It reflects the fact that in this dynamic region, which is so much the centre of global economic activity of the 21st century, but with still genuine and continuing security challenges in the 21st century, that we must always work to improve our regional, coordination and cooperation systems and institutions into the future.
PERCY: Japan has floated a similar proposal .. going even further .. pitching for a common currency amongst east asian nations.
Thailand's Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva .. ASEAN's current president has reinforced his colleagues desire to build on the ASEAN framework.
ABHISIT: We continue to practice open regionalism and we know that with the evolving circumstances and environment of our time, our cooperation and arrangement to must evolve and we have good responses from our dialogue partners and I am confident that in doing so, we will preserve ASEAN centrality and make vital contributions, not just to our own region, but to the Asia-Pacific region and to the whole world.
PERCY: Despite adopting a charter in the past year aimed at ending the perception of ASEAN as a country club and committing the 10 members to a more rules based system, ASEAN is still seen as being weak and ineffective.
A case in point is the region's first human rights body which was formally established during this weekend, but it is going to be an instrument of the 10 governments .. many of which are accused of abuses.
The leaders talk up their aims to be there for the people, yet input from outsiders into how ASEAN should grow has been poorly received, as seen in Friday's people's meeting where a number of NGOs were turned away from their own discussions.
There are worries now about what happens next year .. when Vietnam assumes ASEAN's presidency.
Political commentator, Thitinan Pongsudhirak.
THITINAN: Vietnam is not going to be very receptive to civil society, activism, human rights organisations and so on and this is going to cast a cloud over ASEAN, because ASEAN has come up with this ASEAN Charter, human rights provisions, the fundamental freedoms in the ASEAN Charter will come under pressure during Vietnam's chairmanship. If Vietnam does not allow some opening, some abidance of this human rights fundamental freedoms in the ASEAN Charter, the ASEAN Charter will be hollow. It will look like a joke, it will be bankrupt.
PERCY: One thing will not be an issue in Vietnam and that is security.
While Thailand has had to contend with threats of protests and a disruption to one summit, there is no chance that Vietnam's meetings will be disrupted by protesters, or anything else for that matter.
