3 - Southeast Asians and the Informality of the ASEM Institution

Summary

The ASEM institution reveals some characteristics of the relations between ASEM and Southeast Asian countries. ASEM has emerged as an interregional meeting forum espousing the principles of equality and informality, and is non-binding. These characteristics are very likely influenced by ASEAN member countries in ASEM. The informal characteristic has been highlighted in ASEM documents since the early period and seems to be sustained throughout ASEM discourse. The informality not only reflects the need of ASEM partners to avoid legal and formal institutions but also mirrors one of ASEM's purposes, to bridge the differences among ASEM partners and accommodate their varying interests. A number of interviewees raised the issue of the informality of the ASEM institution during in-depth interviews conducted for this study, and two participants’ observations in ASEF workshops revealed the merits of these informal interactions among the participants. The data indicate that the informality can help ASEM to accommodate the diversity of its partners and to circumvent the complexity of the inter-regional relations, whereas a formal institution may decompose such inter-regional relations. The purpose of this chapter is to illuminate the influence of ASEAN in the ASEM institution and the contribution of the informality and non-binding characteristic to ASEM's longevity.

This chapter argues that the ASEM institution has been built in accordance with the needs of the Southeast Asian countries, that is, inter-regional relations managed by an informality and non-binding principle. Those characteristics mirror the influence of ASEAN countries on the ASEM institution. Indeed, ASEM seems to tolerate the Southeast Asian countries to bring in their “ASEAN way”, which means consensus-based, informal decision-making, and non-binding. These circumstances, however, have helped to maintain ASEM's longevity in two ways. First, the accommodation of the ASEAN institutional style into the ASEM institution encourages the Southeast Asian countries to accept and support ASEM. Second, the informality of ASEM institution creates flexibility while the non-binding principle seems to reduce the cost of maintaining cooperation while opening up opportunities for the ASEM partners to develop different kinds of strategic relations.