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ASEAN defence ministers meet on expanding membership

The ASEAN defence ministers gathered in Bangkok on November 3 to decide whether to expand ties with powers outside the region, including the US and Russia , as they address complex transnational security challenges.
The ASEAN defence ministers gathered inBangkok on November 3 to decide whether to expand ties with powersoutside the region, including the US and Russia , as they addresscomplex transnational security challenges.

Officials said any decision to rope in dialogue partners under theASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) Plus would need consensus amongthe 10-member ASEAN, the Bernama news agency said.

According to these officials, ASEAN already had good cooperation and aformalised engagement in the form of ASEAN Plus Three ( China , Japanand the Republic of Korea ), as well as the ASEAN Plus Six (ASEAN PlusThree and Australia , New Zealand and India ) but these cooperationmechanisms excluded defence ministers.

“Many non-ASEAN countries are keen to engage with ASEAN in the area ofdefence and security as our security is increasingly intertwined,” anofficial was quoted by Bernama as saying ahead of the ADMM retreat onNovember 3.

The official said the retreat would allow ministers to discuss theprinciples for membership of ASEAN dialogue partners as well as decideon the initial meeting of once every three years.

Under the proposed concept, an ADMM-Plus country shall be afull-fledged dialogue partner of ASEAN. The defence ministers, who metat the 3 rd ADMM in Pattaya last February, felt that there was a needto engage their counterparts from dialogue partners to further expandand deepen interactions as they are not involved in the ASEAN RegionalForum despite it focusing on security matters.

The agenda of ADMM also focuses on promoting the defence industry among ASEAN member states./.
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