Asean and territorial disputes in Southeast Asia : the search for solutions

Abstract

The common membership in ASEAN has fostered close ties among Southeast Asian countries. Behind such closeness, however, there lie long-standing bilateral issues that have seldom been raised during ASEAN gatherings. Territorial disputes remain as one of the outstanding issues that have led to spats between countries in the region, testing bilateral relations and subsequently the very unity of ASEAN. This paper looks at territorial disputes in Southeast Asia particularly focusing on land boundary disputes, and examines the existing mechanisms, strategies and practices both within and outside the ambit of ASEAN, that have been utilized to tackle the problem of territorial disputes in Southeast Asia. It also seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of these mechanisms, to recognize the lessons learned from them, and to explore the opportunities by which the issue can be resolved.