Collaboration under Anarchy Functional Regionalism and the Security of East Asia RSIS Monograph No. 15 Edited by See Seng Tan RSIS MONOGRAPH NO. 15 Collaboration under anarChy FunCtional regionalism and the seCurity oF east asia edited by See Seng Tan report oF the study group For the sentosa roundtable on asian seCurity 2009 Multilateralism & Regionalism Programme S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies i Copyright © 2009 each author for his/her own chapter Published by S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Nanyang Technological University South Spine, S4, Level B4, Nanyang Avenue Singapore 639798 Telephone: 6790 6982 Fax: 6793 2991 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.idss.edu.sg First published in 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Body text set in 11/14 point Warnock Pro Produced by BOOKSMITH ([email protected]) ISBN 978-981-08-3640-5 ii The RSIS/IDSS Monograph Series Monograph No. 1 neither Friend nor Foe Myanmar’s Relations with Thailand since 1988 Monograph No. 2 China’s strategic engagement with the new asean Monograph No. 3 beyond Vulnerability? Water in Singapore-Malaysia Relations Monograph No. 4 a new agenda for the asean regional Forum Monograph No. 5 the south China sea dispute in philippine Foreign policy Problems, Challenges and Prospects Monograph No. 6 the osCe and Co-operative security in europe Lessons for Asia Monograph No. 7 betwixt and between Southeast Asian Strategic Relations with the U.S. and China Monograph No. 8 Fading away? The Political Role of the Army in Indonesian Transition to Democracy, 1998–2001 Monograph No. 9 the post-tsunami reconstruction of aceh and the implementation of the peace agreement Monograph No. 10 post-suharto Civil-military relations in indonesia Monograph No. 11 people’s asean and governments’ asean Monograph No. 12 Forgetting osama bin munqidh, remembering osama bin laden The Crusades in Modern Muslim Memory Monograph No. 13 do institutions matter? Regional Institutions and Regionalism in East Asia Monograph No. 14 population movements and the threat of hiV/aids Virus at the bangladesh-india border Monograph No. 15 Collaboration under anarchy Functional Regionalism and the Security of East Asia iii On 1 January 2007, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) was inaugurated at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. It was originally established as the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) on 30 July 1996. The IDSS remains as a key component within the RSIS, focusing on security research, while the School takes over its teaching functions. The RSIS will: a. Provide a rigorous professional graduate education with a strong practical emphasis, b. Conduct policy-relevant research in defence, national security, international relations, international political economy, strategic studies and diplomacy, and c. Build a global network of like-minded professional schools. iv Contents preface vii abbreviations and acronyms ix introduction: Functionalizing regional Cooperation 1 in east asia: Challenges and prospects See Seng Tan Part I – SPecIfIc ISSueS 1 is depoliticized Functional Cooperation the Key to 11 advancing Cooperation in east asia? lessons from east asian Financial Cooperation Helen E. S. Nesadurai 2 the problems and prospects of an integrated 26 regional energy market Youngho Chang 3 non-traditional security Challenges in east asia: 35 pushing the limits of Functional Cooperation in east asia Mely Caballero-Anthony 4 Functional Cooperation against human and 49 drug trafficking in east asia Ralf Emmers v Part II – country PerSPectIveS 5 Visions and realities: asean’s efforts to 63 institutionalize Cooperation Avery Poole 6 China and Functional Cooperation in east asia: 76 possibilities and limitations Li Mingjiang 7 Japan and east asian regional Cooperation 90 Bhubhindar Singh 8 india’s perspective on regionalism in asia 103 Kripa Sridharan 9 the Case for an informal approach: 120 an australian perspective Robert Ayson and Brendan Taylor Contributors 132 vi preFaCe n the debate on East Asia’s efforts to enhance regional coop- I eration and build the long anticipated East Asian Community, what is often missed or glossed over is the embryonic functional regionalism that is fast developing in the region. Notwithstanding the contention—not incorrect, in many respects—that East Asian regionalism is more about “process” rather than “progress”,1 a deeper examination of regional cooperative efforts in issue-specific or interest-based areas suggests there is progress as well as proc- ess. Uneven, qualified and fraught with constraints and cautionary notes of all kinds, it has to be said that it is progress nonetheless. Crucially, cooperative efforts have emerged in response to crisis; take, for example, the recent move by the ASEAN+3 to finally multilateralize financial collaboration in response to worldwide economic recession even though similar ideas had previously been mooted (and rejected) following the 1997 Asian financial meltdown. At the same time, it is fair to say that no bold initiatives of the sort just described could have been conceivable much less possible without the requisite frameworks and processes, no matter how rudimentary, already in place. In this sense, East Asia’s developing functional regionalism has played and continues to play a part in laying the groundwork and, to an extent, ground rules for more ambitious collaboration. Indeed, functional cooperation may well constitute a key building block, in East Asia, for the type of rules- based or hard regionalism that characterizes more advanced forms of regional community such as the European Union. Needless to say, that prospect remains at best ambiguous. Nor is it apparent, not yet at least, whether East Asia’s road to community formation will be similar to that traversed by Europe or unlike any other. But this much is clear: No regional integration and community in East Asia will likely be possible without a functional regionalism that is robust and vibrant. vii This monograph is the culmination of the efforts of the Study Group in support of The Sentosa Roundtable on Asian Security 2009, an annual dialogue hosted by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The authors gratefully acknowledge the gen- erous support and partnership of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation for the Sentosa Roundtable and related activities, which has made possible the work of this Study Group and its predecessors. See Seng Tan Editor 1. David Martin Jones and Michael L.R. Smith. “Making Process, Not Progress: ASEAN and the Evolving East Asian Regional Order.” International Security, Vol. 32, No. 1, (2007) pp. 148–184. viii