ADMM Plus Reaffirms the ASEAN Way
Ha Noi, 12 October 2010
ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners today pledged their support towards the region’s security cooperation to bring peace, stability and development to the region. All of the world’s major powers which attended the first ASEAN Defence Minsiters’ Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) meeting in Ha Noi reaffirmed ASEAN’s important role in security cooperation for East Asia.
“Our approaches of incremental and open regionalism have also been endorsed,” said the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr Surin Pitsuwan. “We shall move, progressively and transparently, with a view towards achieving an environment of peace and security based on mutual trust, common responsibilities and equal partnership – all the hallmarks of the ASEAN Way,” he added.
General Liang Guanglie, Minister of National Defense of China, said “China is positive and open to regional security cooperation and supports ASEAN centrality” in the ADMM Plus mechanism. General Liang recommended for the new forum to promote mutual understanding and trust to consolidate the political foundation for regional security cooperation. Moving ahead with practical cooperation was also recommended.
Meanwhile, Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister of Defense of Japan, Jun Azumi, said that his country could help to strengthen regional cooperation by sharing knowledge and experiences.
US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, said the nature of the challenges faced by the region today requires a renewed commitment to strong bilateral and multilateral defence relationships. Describing the ADMM Plus as a “most useful innovation”, Secretary Gates said the ADMM Plus forum provides the opportunity to improve capacities to meet common challenges.”
The Australian Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, expressed particular interest in the need and potential for regional cooperation in maritime security, counter-terrorism and peacekeeping. He also called on his fellow Ministers to take a broad view of today’s definition of security. “The establishment of this most important regional institution provides an opportunity to push our regional security cooperation beyond humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” he said.
Meanwhile, New Zealand underlined two important roles for the ADMM Plus. Its Minister of Defence, Dr Wayne Mapp, said the first is to build confidence and mutual understanding where it could initially focus on enhancing the understanding of member countries’ national defence and security policies, and developing a common understanding of the collective security challenges faced by them. “The second is the development of practical cooperation among all 18 member countries, once a strong degree of confidence has been established.”
The Minister of Defence of India, Shri A.K. Antony, said India agrees that ASEAN Member States should rightfully play the central role in the further evolution of the ADMM Plus model. “I pay tribute to the ASEAN model of regional cooperation of a gradual and step-by-step approach to building trust. The ASEAN Way of ‘dialogue and consensus’ is the Asian way and should remain this forum’s guiding principle,” he said.
According to Dr Surin, the East Asia region, with ASEAN in the leading role, must demonstrate to the global community that it is capable and willing to manage its regional security challenges with the cooperation and support of its Dialogue Partners. “ASEAN as a group of nations, threatening no one but accommodating all, is uniquely positioned to provide a centrality role in security cooperation for peace, stability and development for East Asia,” he said.
The ADMM Plus also had several ASEAN and non-ASEAN countries volunteering to co-chair the Expert Working Groups to be set up under the ADMM Plus framework. The Groups will focus on five priority areas of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; maritime security; military medicine; counter-terrorism; and peacekeeping operations.
Several Defence Ministers also stressed the importance of maintaining the momentum of the ADMM Plus process and called for the ADMM Plus to meet every two years, instead of once in three years, as stipulated in its original framework.
The meeting, which concluded today, also adopted the Ha Noi Joint Declaration on the First ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus.
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