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By Kenny Chee
ECONOMICALLY, the European Union (EU) may dwarf South-east Asia. But the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is a diplomatic superpower compared to the EU, argued an eminent political analyst, adding that Asean could be a diplomatic role model for the rest of Asia.
Credit the grouping's unique talk-shop pedigree.
Professor Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, told my paper that the EU was a "diplomatic mini-power" compared to Asean.
He said: "The EU has handled its geopolitical borders very badly and its surrounding borders are troubled."
The EU has failed to prevent warfare along its borders and Prof Mahbubani cited wars like last year's Georgian war.
However, Asean has handled geopolitical relations well. In an East-West Dialogue journal article last September, he noted that "no two Asean states have gone to war with each other since Asean was created".
Asean also peacefully engineered Vietnam's entry into the association in 1995, despite internal tensions.
But Asean's success goes further. Prof Mahbubani told my paper that Asean has contributed to peace in the wider region.
He said: "Whenever there are bilateral tensions between China and Japan, the only place they can meet and talk are on Asean platforms like Asean Plus Three and the East Asia Summit."
In a 2007 essay in Global Asia, he said that leaders of China and Japan cannot meet bilaterally to fix problems due to "domestic political complications" and "long-standing distrust".
Agreeing with him was Dr Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research.
Both had discussed Asean's diplomatic success on BBC World News' The World Debate series broadcast last month. The debate among five panellists was filmed here.
Dr Mehta told my paper that Asia could look to the Asean way of consultation through informal meetings to openly discuss "mutual suspicions and problems".
He said: "Such informal dialogues are good examples of managing conflict because they don't embarrass anybody and allow leaders to talk more freely."
Thus, despite criticism that Asean is longer on talk than action, Prof Mahbubani said talk shops were useful in diplomacy.
"We would worry much less about India-Pakistan tensions if there was an Asean spirit in South Asia," he explained.
"As Winston Churchill said, it's better to jaw-jaw than to war-war."
For more my paper stories click here.
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