Issues
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The ASEAN Regional Forum was established in 1994 and now consists of twenty five member countries: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, United States and Vietnam. The objectives of the ASEAN Regional Forum are to:
ARF meetings are held annually in July of each year at the foreign ministerial level. The following maps the increasing breadth of initiatives that the ARF has adopted in its first decade. The Second ASEAN Regional Forum (1994-1995) Chairman's Statement of the 2 nd Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum Throughout the first few meetings of the ARF, little is mentioned regarding the threat of terrorism and transnational crime. The Chairman's statement reveals in this regard that Ministers agreed " to encourage all ARF countries to enhance their dialogues and consultations on political and security cooperation including exchanges on security perceptions on a bilateral, sub-regional and regional basis." The focus during this Forum very much centered on territorial disputes and the importance of the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. This remained the focal point for subsequent forums. The Fifth ASEAN Regional Forum (1997-1998) Chairman's Statement of the 5th Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum The 5th Meeting exhibited a tentative expansion of policy areas that the ARF will address. The Ministers "welcomed the fact that while the focus of the ARF was on core military and defense-related issues, the ARF also addressed non-military issues, which would have a significant impact on regional security." The Eighth ASEAN Regional Forum (2000-2001) Chairman's Statement of the 8th Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum The 8th Meeting began to show the "securitization" of transnational-crime issues such as cybercrime and terrorism, which eventually paves the way for international policy-making on these issues. The Ministers recognised that the "transnational crimes could not only have potentially serious impacts on regional peace and stability, but also pose a threat to the national economic development and social well-being of all states" and consequently "underlined the importance of greater bilateral, regional and international co-operative efforts in this regard." The signing and ratification of the "Convention against Transnational Organised Crime' and its protocols is encouraged. The Ninth ASEAN Regional Forum (2001-2002) Chairman's Statement of the 9th Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum The terrorist attacks against the United States in September 2001 were a catalyst for an increase in ARF activity in counter terrorism policies. The Ministers agreed that the attacks "had a tremendous impact on the overall security situation." ARF Statement on Measures Against Terrorist Financing In their efforts to stop the financing of terrorism, the ARF participants agreed to various recommendations, notably that participants would:
ASEAN Regional Forum Workshop on Prevention of Terrorism Participants in this Forum agreed that "terrorism posed a serious long-term threat to national, regional and international security and had potentially serious development and economic ramifications. This included possible damage to investment flows and tourist markets if ARF participating countries or the region as a whole were seen as not playing an appropriate part in the international fight against terrorism." Discussion points included:
As can be seen from this brief memo regarding the future direction of the ARF, terrorism and transnational-crime now dominate the agenda. The Tenth ASEAN Regional Forum (2002-2003) Chairman's Statement of the 10th Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum The 10th Regional Forum exhibits to a limited extent the wealth of activity that is being conducted in relation to transnational crime and terrorism. Several workshops, declarations and agreements within the ARF are mentioned in the text of the statement. Notably, the Ministers in attendance agreed to:
ARF Inter-sessional Meeting on Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime The March 2003 ARF Intersessional Meeting was chaired by Malaysia and the United States. The report shows the agenda for the meeting and highlights four broad areas of discussion:
Notable suggestions included:
The Inter-sessional Meeting was also used to present the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Statement on Co-operative Counter-Terrorist Action on Border Security (June 2003) in which ASEAN and the US endorsed a 5-point counter-terrorism plan that will facilitate the sharing of intelligence information. The plan was formulated following a Declaration agreed between Washington and ASEAN in August 2002 to design means to combat international terrorism. It was envisaged by the ASEAN Secretary-General that many of the measures could be effected immediately, with the remainder being enacted over the next twelve months. The Eleventh ASEAN Regional Forum (2003-2004) Chairman's Statement of the 11th Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum At the 11th Regional Forum, the Chairman's Statement refers to various meetings that were conducted throughout the year, including the ASEAN Regional Forum Statement on Strengthening Transport Security Against International Terrorism and the Co-Chair's Summary Report of the Second ASEAN Regional Forum Intersessional Meeting on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime . Both reiterate the need for enhanced information sharing. The Twelfth ASEAN Regional Forum (2004-2005) Chairman's Statement of the 12th Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum The following document received the full agreement of the members of the 12th ARF: The topics included in the "ASEAN Regional Forum Statement on Information Sharing and Information Exchange and Document Integrity and Security' are self explanatory. The Statement expands slightly on previously discussed issues such as intelligence exchange and information sharing and in this context, does afford some mention to the privacy and other rights of an individual about whom personal information is being exchanged between states to ensure that they are respected and protected. The statement calls for national documents pertaining internationally agreed standards and containing appropriate biometric identifiers and also Machine Readable Travel Documents with biometrics if possible., The tone of the statement implies that non-conformity with such international standards, international norms, institutions and international agreements equates to acquiescence or participation in terrorist acts. ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Seminar on Cyber Terrorism No official press release or communication has been released as yet. Press Clips:
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