The New Security Agenda in the Asia Pacific Region

 

Wichai Chucherd

   

Introduction 

 

The increasing importance of the new security agenda in the Asia Pacific region has urged scholars, politic and military leaders to rethink about security issues. What is the present character of threats? How are they shaped? What are their impacts on the region? Security issues in the region have become more complex. Intra-state conflict, which is the consequences of a variety of societies in weak sates, the impacts of modernization and democratization, and the changing of international norms, has strongly influenced regional security (Reilly 2002: 7). Transnational issues now rank with the questions of military security, ideology and territorial revelry (Dupont: 2001: 13). Piracy, widespread of HIV, common use of inter-state natural resource and transborder issues are raised to be a new security agenda. This paper examines the importance of these phenomena in order to understand their profiles.

 

Intra-state conflict in Asia Pacific and its impact 

 

Recently, major armed conflicts have take place within states more than wars between countries. Most of them are based on the problems in communities. When the highly intermixed and fragmented ethnic demography in Southeast Asia faced with the inexorable forces of modernization, urbanization and change of traditional lifestyles and power bases, it affected the changing of social relations, the increasing group inequalities and tensions in political and economic issues. It brought to some kind of self-determination disputes, such as conflicts in Burma, Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia. Reilly (2002: 8-10) argues that there are three reasons, which can explain an explosion of internal conflicts; weak states structures, the uncertain effects of modernization and democratization, and the changing nature of international norms.

 

Most of the countries in the region are weak states. They lack of consent to be a state; society deeply divided and internal sovereignty has not been created yet (Buzan and Segal 1998: 160).  Their people comprise a variety of ethnic groups, who are completely different in languages, cultures, clans, and tribal. These states structure cause difficulties within governments to fulfil the fundamental state tasks such as the delivery of basic services as stability and prosperity. The arc of instability, the island states from Indonesia to Melanesia, is an example of states like these (Reilly 2002: 10-1).

 

Facing with the turmoil of severe social, economic and political change of the transition period to be a modernized and democratic country, weak states tend to confront internal conflicts. Modernization leads to the reaction of anti-modernization from ethnic and loser groups. Democratization is not going well (Buzan and Segal 1998: 125-6) as optimistic democratic peace theory and the speeches of former US President Bill Clinton mention. Its initial period could lead to inter- and intra-state conflicts easily. Democratic reformation in Indonesia after the fall of Suharto in 1998 has caused the country to be a highly unstable state, for instance (Reilly 2002: 11-3).   

 

The changing of international norms concerning secessionism and the creation of new states that more discern a demand of self-determination is another reason. The constraints on establishing of new states have forced ethic groups to claim their self-determination violently. On the other hand, some self-determination demands are imitation activities for other purposes (Reilly 2002: 13-4).

 

The conflicts have affected the region by their nature; they were rooted by artificial colonial boundaries dividing. Their activities are increasing cross-border links between ethnic groups and transnational actors as a network. Additionally, the political geography of the region, which is open maritime borders and a strategic position, has led the internal conflicts connected with piracy and the world’s important sea lanes of communication. It has affected the involvement of major powers in the region (Reilly 2002: 18-20).

 

Transnational issues and its impact  

 

Dupont (2001: 13-8) argues that transnational issues comprise environmental degradation, unregulated population movements (UPMs) and transnational crime. Asia, Pacific Ocean and South China Sea have been affected by the environmental change. The increasing of temperature affected by carbon dioxide emissions, stratospheric ozone depletion, deforestation, and land and maritime degradation, has caused the further pressure on the region food and water resources, a severe occurrence of the El Nino, and fire and drought in land  (The UN 2000: 6; Bankoff 2001: 179; Greene 2001: 387-412). The environmental change may lead to conflicts and resource scarcity (Dupont 2001: 18).

 

Unregulated population movements or UPMs are people who move across borders and within states for economic reasons, a consequence of war, and the effect of environmental degradation. The consequence of Vietnam and Korea war, internal conflicts in Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, and natural disaster in South Pacific countries, is the explosion of UPMs in the region, which caused change of demography and social conflicts. It may lead to inter-state tensions, internal stability, environmental degradation, and other transnational issues in the region (Dupont 2001: 18-23).  

 

The unprecedented power and influence exercised by modern transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and their networks upgraded transnational crime to be a core security agenda in the region. Transnational crime, such as illicit drug trade, arms-trafficking, environmental crime, terrorism, piracy, illegal gambling, crimes of violence, people smuggling, fraud and corruption, money-laundering, counterfeiting and cyber-crime, run complexity and diversity activities (Dupont 2001: 23-31). Financial flows of their money laundering are massive and unpredictable. Their routes and activities have gone beyond the region (Willetts 2001: 367). They are spoiling states capacity to govern their countries. Additionally, they may cause inter-state tensions and military conflicts easily.

 

Transborder issues and its impact  

 

Transborder issues, such as maritime piracy, the effect of HIV/AIDS, the regional common, and transborder security, are increasingly its importance in the last decade. Maritime piracy, a prominent security issue in Southeast Asia, could be divided into three groups; harbour and anchorage thefts, vessels’ ransacking and robbery on the high seas or territorial water, and phantom ship. These groups may link to TCOs, quasi-military and professional armed groups, and the official of some states, such as China and Indonesia. Maritime piracy poses a direct threat to lives and welfare of people. It could lead to the boycott of a port facility. It may cause environmental and pollution damage (Chalk 1997: 23-39).

 

A new threat to most of the countries in the region is HIV/AIDS, which is unprecedented diverse and rapid change. It is related to some critical issues; illegal drug, in which three form the countries in the region are the main production; women trafficking, which cause the HIV prevention is more complex and politically sensitive issue; and labor and social mobility, which urge HIV to be more widespread. It causes the world’s blood supply unsafe, and the collapse of working force, economy and social. Governments in the region are short of effective response to the threats of AIDS. They lack severely both drug treatment and HIV prevention, and education concerning AIDS’s knowledge for their people. They sometime blind themselves and community for political reasons. The rapid dissemination of HIV through drug users, sex workers and wider groups now are some of the largest human populations’ risk (Beyrer 2000: 211-23). 

 

The common use of inter-state resource is an issue that has a potential conflict between the countries concerning the resource. The greater Mekong sub-region is and example. Mekong, which flow through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, has a vital role as a source of fish and carrier of slit that aids horticulture and agriculture in this area. The construction of large dams in Yunnan will block the water that flow down to the rest countries. It affects fish catches in downstream area, and changes the agricultural style along the bank of Mekong. The Mekong agenda is arguing among these countries. It may cause some conflicts between them (Osborne 2000)

 

Tagliacozzo (2001) argues that border permeability and illegal trade should be a special challenge to the new security agenda. Becoming less importance of borders and the restrictive capacities of the countries in the region, which are different in government systems and most of them are developing countries, cause the possibility that illicit commerce in consumer goods has come to be an security issues. It leads to dispute over territory, financial and diplomatic problems.    

 

Conclusion  

 

The complicated and multidimensional problems of the new security agenda, which are internal conflict, transnational issues and transborder issues, have some critical impacts on national and regional security. Although some of them are not new, but their unprecedented power and influence caused by the collapsing of time and space that have bought to the interconnectedness between societies have enhanced their effects on the region. The effects of internal conflicts could lead to a nation-state failure, which causes the movement of people across border, and the increasing of transnational criminal organizations and other kinds of illegal transnational business. They may cause tensions between states, environmental degradation, and the collapses of economy and society in the region. The new security agenda in the region need to be concentrated. The old approach of government could not deal with these new threats. Regional organizations and states systems have to be reformed. A new mechanism, which more concern regionally, more cooperate among nations and more deliberate over wider dimension of security should be created.

 

Reference list

 

Bankoff, G., 2001. ‘Environment, resources, and hazards’ in P. Heenan and M. Lamontagne (eds), The Southeast Asia Handbook, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, London.

 

Beyrer, C., 2001. ‘Accelerating and disseminating across Asia’, The Washington Quarterly, 24(1): 211-225.  

 

Buzan, B. and Segal, G., 1998. Anticipation the Future, Simon & Schuster, London.

 

Chalk, P., 1997. Grey-area Phenomena in Southeast Asia: Piracy, Drug Trafficking and Political Terrorism, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Canberra.

 

Dupont, A., 2001. East Asia Imperiled: Transnational challenges to security, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

 

Greene, O., 2001. ‘Environmental issues’, in J. Baylis and S. Smith (eds), The Globalization of World Politics: An introduction to international relations, 2^nd edn, Oxford university press, Oxford: 387-414.

 

Osborne, M., 2000. ‘The strategic significance of the Mekong’, Contemporary Southeast Asia, 22(3): 429.

 

Reilly, B., 2002. ‘Internal conflict and regional security in Asia and the Pacific’, Pacifica Review Peace, Security and Global Change, 14(1): 7-22.

 

Tagliacozzo, E., 2001. ‘Border permeability and the state in Southeast Asia: contraband and regional security’, Contemporary Southeast Asia, 23(2): 452.

 

Willetts, P., 2001. ‘Transnational actors and international organizations in global politics’, in J. Baylis and S. Smith (eds), The Globalization of World Politics: An introduction to international relations, 2^nd edn, Oxford university press, Oxford: 356-383.

 

The UN, Governing council of the United Nations Environment Programme, 2000. Discussion papers presented by the Executive Director, Global Ministerial Environment Forum, Sixth special session, May 2000, Malmo, Sweden.