Countering emerging infectious diseases and COVID-19 : the development of ASEAN's institutional arrangements and international cooperation

Abstract

This chapter argues that ASEAN’s mechanisms to tackle emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) have been developing gradually since the declaration made at the ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting (AHMM) in 1980. While the 2003 SARS crisis significantly enhanced ASEAN’s cooperation to counter EIDs, ASEAN had already laid a foundation for such cooperation before 2003. This chapter shows that ASEAN has tended to focus on the regional rather than global level due to a lack of financial and technical resources and ASEAN’s long-standing institutional norms. The recent intensification of great power rivalries, particularly between the United States and China, means that relying on external actors for medical support would entrap ASEAN in great power politics. As such, ASEAN needs to make efforts to build its capacity to respond to EIDs.