Introduction: ASEAN — Towards Economic Convergence

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded in Bangkok on 8 August 1967. It was originally designed as a political entity to establish cooperation among the free market economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to peacefully resolve several areas of tension among these countries at that time and to combat the communist threat that was looming from Indo-China. North Vietnam had already fallen to communism, while the communist struggle for control of Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam was ongoing. Although there were hints of communist revolutions in the original ASEAN countries, the fall of Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam did not carry through to them, disproving the then famous “domino theory” that the communist contagion would absorb the other countries in Southeast Asia. Economic reforms in Communist China following the political ascent of Deng Xiaoping in 1978 was the surprise development that largely ended the threat of spreading communism in the region. Hence, apart from attempting to play a foreign policy role through cooperation among members, ASEAN efforts to strengthen cooperation to ward off political threats began to decline since the late 1970s. In fact, the communist economies reverted to introducing reforms to integrate with the global economy since the 1980s. Thus, Vietnam joined ASEAN on 28 July 1995; Lao PDR and Myanmar joined on 23 July 1997; and Cambodia joined on 30 April 1999. The key agreement that defines the conduct of ASEAN members is contained in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) of 1976 (ASEAN 2018). Its key tenets include: