ASEAN Charter: Good start for building integrated ASEAN Community

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Source: CCTV.com | 11-20-2007 13:52

Turning southeast Asia into a tightly-knit integrated community is what ASEAN has been pledging to do for the past 40 years. Member countries have long voiced support for a joint charter to help meet this goal. And now, with the organization turning 40, the ASEAN Charter is finally coming into being.

Systematic co-operation in southeast Asia can be dated back to early 1967, when ASEAN was founded.

But it was not until it turned 38 that member countries began to consider setting up a binding legal framework-- the ASEAN Charter.

In 2005, at their summit in Malaysia, member countries voiced their commitment to establishing the ASEAN Charter.

Two years later, the charter is finally coming into being.

The draft charter upholds ASEAN's bedrock principle of non-interference in members' domestic affairs. It aims to turn Southeast Asia into a single market and production base with a free flow of goods, services, investment and capital.

More importantly, it entitles ASEAN to sue and be sued, turning it into a more rules-based community.

Zhai Kun, research fellow of Inst. of Contemporary Int'l Rel., said, "The ASEAN Charter shows the determination of ASEAN leaders on realization of the community. With the trend of economic globalization and regional integration, member countries recognize that building a community to adapt to changes and challenges is the right way for ASEAN's future development."

But a charter does not guarantee a smooth integration process.