Asian Regionalism: ASEAN, SAARC, and the SCO

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded on 8 August 1967 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration by five states: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, whose foreign ministers sought to promote regional stability and economic cooperation amid Cold War tensions and recent conflicts among Southeast Asian neighbors. Brunei joined in 1984, followed by Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997, and Cambodia in 1999, bringing ASEAN to its current ten members. ASEAN's founding principles emphasize sovereignty, non-interference in members' internal affairs, and decision-making by consensus rather than majority vote, an approach commonly called the "ASEAN Way," formalized further in the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and the 2007 ASEAN Charter, which gave the organization legal personality. This consensus-based, non-confrontational style of diplomacy is credited with helping a highly diverse group of states avoid major interstate conflict for decades, while critics argue it has left ASEAN slow or unable to act decisively on internal crises.