In recent years, the world has been undergoing a "century of great changes", and the global political and economic landscape is undergoing profound changes. The development of regional economic and political integration continues to be dynamic. As an important part of the East Asian regional economy, China- Asean (10+1) cooperation is booming, but the regional economic development mechanism in East Asia is not yet sound. In the future, China-Asean (10+1) cooperation should not only be based on enhancing East Asia's comprehensive competitiveness in the global context, but also seize the opportunity of profound changes not seen in a century to further improve the cooperation mechanism.

2019년 동남아시아 국가연합(ASEAN)이 채택한 ‘인도·태평양에 대한 아세안의 관점(AOIP)’은 새로운 질서를 제시하거나 새로운 협력 메커니즘 을 수립하는 등 기존 메커니즘을 획기적으로 대체한 것은 아니었다. 오히 려 기존의 협력 아젠다들을 종합하고 정리한 문서로 여겨진다. 그렇다면 아세안은 왜 이러한 지역 전략 문서를 채택했는가? 본 연구는 이 질문에 대답하기 위해 아세안 AOIP의 수립 배경과 이를 통한 아세안의 인태전략 해석에 초점을 맞춘다. 기존 연구는 아세안의 인태전략이 외부 환경과의 고려 가운데 내려진 전략적 선택의 결과물이라는 점을 종종 간과하고 있 다. 본 논문은 아세안의 전략적 선택 추론을 위해 아세안에게 크게 네 가 지 가능성이 있었음을 제시한다. 이를 뒷받침하기 위해 AOIP와 기타 협 력 이니셔티브 등의 내용을 분석하여 소개한다. 또한 구체적 근거 제시를 위해 AOIP에서 강조된 4가지 영역(해양협력, 연계성, UN SDGs, 기타 경 제협력 등)이 대화 상대국과의 협력 과정에서 어떻게 등장하는지 살펴본 다. 본 연구는 인태지역을 둘러싼 이해 당사국의 역동성을 아세안의 AOIP 수립을 통해 구체화했다는 연구 함의와 더불어 향후 이를 중심으로 한 AOIP의 발전 가능성을 탐구했다는 점에 연구 의의를 갖는다.

본 연구는 광시성(广西省)을 사례로 중국의 아세안 국가에 대한 고등교 육 협력 정책을 분석하는 데 목적이 있다. 연구 결과, 광시성은 중국 중서 부와 해상 실크로드를 연결하는 관문이라는 지정학적인 위치를 적극 활용 해 아세안 국가를 대상으로 한 고등교육 협력을 강화하고 있다. 중국 중앙 정부는 국가 전략적으로 광시성에 해상 실크로드 전략 중 ‘민심상통’에 토 대가 되는 아세안과의 고등교육 협력 강화를 중점 과업으로 부여하고, 광 시성 지방정부는 지역이 가지는 지경학적 특성을 고려해 아세안 국가를 대상으로 고등교육 협력을 강화하고 있다. 구체적으로 보면, 광시성은 “유 학 광시”를 브랜드화해 아세안 국가 학생을 유치하고, 아세안 국가 장학금 을 신설해 지원을 확대하고 있다. 또한 중국과 아세안과의 교역 관계와 산 업 분업구조가 심화함에 따라 아세안을 대상으로 한 직업교육을 강화해 일대일로 구축에 필요한 기술 인력을 양성하고 있다. 즉, 광시성의 아세안 국가와의 고등교육 협력은 자국 고등교육의 국제화 수준을 제고하는 한편 중국과 아세안과의 산업 분업구조에서 필요한 산학 인재를 육성하는 전초 기지로 역할하고 있다. 나아가 아세안과의 ‘교육 공동체’ 구축을 강화하고 있어 ‘중국몽’의 토대가 되는 ‘교육 강국’, ‘인류운명공동체’ 구축을 뒷받침 하고 있다.

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) becomes an influential actor in international investment rule-making, this article scrutinizes the environmental provisions within ASEAN investment agreements and evaluates their adequacy in preserving ASEAN member states’ (AMS) regulatory autonomy for environmental protection. Through a comprehensive survey of fifteen plurilateral investment agreements, the study conducts a comparative analysis with international treaty practices to determine the effectiveness of these provisions in reconciling environmental concerns with foreign investment promotion objectives. These findings reveal that environmental provisions in ASEAN investment agreements are often vague or narrowly tailored, limiting their ability to provide adequate regulatory space for AMS to implement necessary environmental measures. This article concludes by offering recommendations for enhancing environmental provisions in future ASEAN investment agreements to ensure a more balanced approach safeguarding both investment promotion and environmental regulation rights of AMS.

This research attempts to identify the issues which make it more difficult to safeguard transboundary protected areas in the ASEAN countries. The research has found that national forest law, which relates only to the territory of each country, is not sufficient to safeguard the transboundary protected areas that spread across the boundaries of two or more countries. There is no national law, regional convention, or bilateral agreement among the ASEAN countries which directly provides for the conservation of transboundary protected areas. This author has adopted a legal approach to the protection of transboundary protected areas in Europe and has proposed that a regional convention or agreement should be used as an instrument to promote cooperation and sustainable management for the conservation of transboundary protected areas and to deal with problems that do not stop at national borders. The relevant domestic laws should be consistent with such a prospective regional convention or agreement.

The members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) engaged with each other and their five major neighbors in the Asia-Pacific region, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, to develop the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a comprehensive free trade agreement streamlining all previous agreements among the participating countries. This article applied the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) method in assessing the RCEP and the key role played by the ASEAN in the negotiation process through middle-power diplomacy. The RCEP’s strengths in economic integration and weaknesses in certain policy areas encapsulate ASEAN centrality and its strategy of hedging on China, the sole great power in the agreement. The opportunities and threats to the RCEP posed by the increasing geopolitical tensions between China and the US amid the COVID-19 pandemic, meanwhile, demonstrate the complex regional and global geopolitical situation that ASEAN should navigate to ensure the success of the RCEP and maintain centrality in the process.

RCEP will have a significant impact on ASEAN, China and other contracting parties, significantly enhancing the cooperative levels between ASEAN and other essential economies in the region. It can develop the manufacturing industry in ASEAN and China with higher quality. First of all, this study used the Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) (SWOT) model to analyze the specific impacts of China’s participation in RCEP on the development of ASEAN’s manufacturing industry. Subsequently, strategic recommendations were put forward for the high-quality development of ASEAN’s manufacturing industry under the RCEP cooperation mechanism from four aspects of SO,WO, ST and WT. As the signing of RCEP provides an excellent development opportunity, the ASEAN member countries should carry out deeper cooperation with China; create new strengths for high-quality development of the manufacturing industry; erect a closer regional industrial chain and the supply chain; and promote the realization of a higher level of regional economic integration between ASEAN and China.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) is the world's largest free trade agreement. The RCEP has significant implications for China’s agricultural trade especially in the ASEAN region which is China’s top export market, the second-biggest source of imports for Chinese agricultural products, and largest trading partner in the agricultural sector. To boost trade development, this paper presents a detailed SWOT analysis of China’s agricultural trade with the ASEAN using the RCEP as the research background. Through the RCEP, China’s agricultural products are expected to achieve not only growth in trade scale and trade facilitation, but also stronger economic ties in East Asia. However, the RECP also poses new challenges to China’s agricultural trade structure, core competitiveness, and quality and safety system. Therefore, China should reinforce its brand building, optimize its trade layout, deepen its agricultural transformation, and improve its cooperation to better enjoy the trade dividends brought by RCEP.

This research purposely conducts to identify Malaysian role in port bilateral diplomacy in ASEAN. Malaysia known as role leader in ASEAN and commit with excellence, drive the country among ASEAN since 1969. The research included Malaysia role within maritime working group where this forum or organization discuss and negotiate any issue related maritime sector in ASEAN. The research also highlights in Port Enhancement and Malaysia Port Strategic whereas Port Development in Malaysia that contribute to Port Bilateral, Port Alliance and Port in ASEAN. The objective includes i) to identify the issues and challenges in bilateral diplomacy in port shipping, ii) to identify Malaysian marine department role toward integrating ASEAN Maritime Working Group, iii) to find out Malaysian initiative for enhancement Malaysian Port Development through ASEAN port alliances, iv) to formulate Malaysia Port Strategic Plan toward the development of national port ASEAN port Alliances. For the literature review in this research is refer to five keywords which is Port Alliances, maritime working group, Malaysia contribution, Malaysia Port Development and Port Strategic Plan. This research is using qualitative method that refer to previous research, article, and journal. The collecting data consist of text transcribe form interview session into verbal and text written. There are selected organization such as Ministry of Transport and Port Authority. The interview process through online using Webex. The coding process take afterward for analysis and conclusion data. The theory formulation of relation diplomacy for this research is propose the objective to formulate Malaysia port strategic plan toward the development of national port ASEAN. Finally, the finding of this research that Malaysia plays significant role in port operation through ASEAN regional. The ministry of Transport plays as policy maker and drive the actor form Malaysia Marine Department and Port Authority in operation and regulatory. The recommendation is to increase the effectiveness of communication and enhance the efficiency of relation toward port bilateral.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the import and export of agricultural products between Korea and ASEAN, and to derive cooperation plans in the agricultural sector. With the introduction of the Korea-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2007, economic cooperation has been expanded. From 2007 to 2021, Korea's foreign direct investment (FDI) to ASEAN countries increased by about 7.55% annually. As ASEAN has emerged as an important economic partner, cooperation in Official Development Assistance (ODA) has also strengthened. Between 2007 and 2020, the size of Korea's ODA to ASEAN countries also increased by about 11.63% annually. To prove the relationship between trade values in the agriculture sector, FDI and ODA, the gravitational model was used. As a result of the analysis, it was found that FDI and ODA affected agricultural trade. The results imply that cooperation in the agricultural sector between Korea and ASEAN should be made through the establishment of “trade (agricultural product trade)-cooperation (ODA)-investment (FDI) Nexus.”

An efficient protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPs) has a positive impact on the economy as it can help attract foreign investment and encourage the advancement of science and technology. There has been much discussion among the ASEAN member States in harmonizing their IP systems to encourage registration and utilization of IPRs among them. However, many legal infrastructures should be prepared in each of the ASEAN member countries and at the ASEAN level before the harmonization of the IP system. In the patent area, the harmonization idea requires more effort since there is also a huge difference in technology development among them. This article discusses various strategies in harmonizing the patent system in the ASEAN member states. This author would look into similar regional organizations, such as the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization and the African Intellectual Property Organization to compare their patent systems to those of the ASEAN to promote the utilization of patents in the ASEAN region.

This paper aims to examine the progressive development process of the ASEAN under the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. As of 2022, the ASEAN Member States have a total population of 622 million people and a combined GDP of USD 3.2 trillion. The ASEAN’s main focus is integration by connectivity which has been facilitated by “the ASEAN Way.” The ASEAN connectivity was upgraded into a single community through the ASEAN Vision 2020 comprehensively formalized by the Bali Concord II in 2003. The ASEAN has been geographically expanding towards Northeast Asia (ASEN+3) and then Oceania with India (ASEAN+6). It was also connected to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which is the biggest mega FTA in the contemporary world. With the Vision 2025, furthermore, the ASEAN Community reset its direction to sustainable development goals which are the main objective to attain for the Association under the Master Plan 2025.

Since 1990s, despite the strong opposition of the international community, North Korea has frequently conducted nuclear weapons tests and missile tests, and the DPRK nuclear issue has become an important factor affecting the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific region. As an extremely important multilateral organization in the Asia-Pacific region, ASEAN has gradually increased its influence in the Asia-Pacific region with the advancement of integration in recent years. In order to further enhance its influence and enhance its participation in Asia-Pacific affairs, ASEAN has been trying to give its voice on the Korean nuclear issue. The ASEAN Regional Forum and ASEAN Summit are the most important platforms for ASEAN to express its position and views. Since the North Korean nuclear issue became prominent, the North Korean nuclear issue has been a key topic discussed in the ASEAN Regional Forum and ASEAN Summit. Judging from the conference documents produced by the conferences over the years, ASEAN's attitude towards the Korean nuclear issue is still being fine-tuned. Although the international community has repeatedly issued policies to condemn North Korea and impose economic sanctions, ASEAN is generally neutral and conservative in its attitude towards the DPRK nuclear issue, and it is also very cautious in its actions. Recently, with China and Russia following the United States, they began to impose severe economic sanctions on North Korea, and their words changed to severe condemnation, and ASEAN's attitude towards North Korea also changed subtly. To some extent, the changes of the Korean nuclear issue in ASEAN reflect the constant fine-tuning of ASEAN's foreign policy. This paper aims to find out the fine-tuning of ASEAN's foreign policy and its influence on ASEAN by combing the changes of ASEAN's Korean nuclear issue and the potential reasons behind the changes.

이 논문은 중국의 일대일로 (Belt and Road Initiative)가 아세안 국가들에게 확산되어 중국이 이 지역에서 지배적인 세력이 될 것인가 하는 질문을 던진다. 이 문제를 탐구하기 위해 아세안 국가 지도자들의 대중국 접근과 정치적 동학, 그리고 중국의 정치군사적 세력 확대에 대한 견제라는 두 변수를 중심으로 분석할 것을 제안한다. 이 두 변수를 중심으로 분석할 때 아세안 국가의 일대일로는 중국 일방적으로 추진되는 것으로 단순화 시킬 수 없다는 것을 알 수 있다. 첫째, 아세안 개별국가 정치지도자들이 자국 경제발전의 필요와 정치적 동학에 따라 일대일로의 구체적 사업들을 받아들이고 조정하는 경우가 빈번하다. 둘째, 아세안 국가들은 중국과 경제교류를 지속하지만 동시에 정치적, 군사적으로 중국의 영향력 하에 지배되는 것을 거부하고 견제한다. 이와 같이 경제적 실리를 추구 하면서 동시에 중국의 세력 확대를 견제하는 전략을 헤징 (hedging)전략으로 설명한다. 실제 일대일로 케이스로 친중적인 미얀마와 말레이시아를 들어 이 나라 들에서 정치적 변화에 따라 일대일로 사업이 취소되고 재조정된 경우들을 살펴 본다. 이 두 나라를 비롯하여 아세안 국가들은 대부분 경제발전의 필요상 경제적으로 중국과 협력을 유지하지만 중국의 정치군사적 세력 확대로 자국이 위협 받는 것을 견제한다. 이것은 국가에 따라 차이는 있지만 헤징전략으로 설명할 수 있다. 즉, 헤징의 개념으로 설명하면, ‘경제적 실용주의’로 경제협력을 추진하며, 다른 한편 정치군사적으로는 중국을 견제하여 다른 인도-태평양 국가들과 협력하는 ‘간접적 밸런싱’의 전략을 취한다는 것이다. 아세안은 중국의 지배적 영향 하에 들어가기를 원치 않으며 ‘아세안 중심성’을 유지하려 할 것이다.

The Kra Canal is a mega-project that provide a new maritime route that would connect the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman Sea, linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The idea of building the Kra Canal has widely gained attention from policy-makers, legislators, maritime activities, shipping and seaport operators due to advantages such as big cost savings, higher levels of safety and security, shortened distance and time compared to the voyage through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. This waterway will likely challenge the present maritime business activities in ASEAN region. Therefore, the aim of this article is considering the pros and cons of the Kra Canal project to political, economic, sociological, legal, environmental, maritime security, and safety aspects by using the thematic analysis combined with PESETLM method. It is note that the new Canal will be beneficial for Vietnam in all aspects, especially maritime economy. Therefore, this article is pioneer research to a comprehensive analysis of the trend of the Vietnamese maritime industry awaiting to advantages of the Kra canal. Given the inherent strengths of the geographical features, the novel maritime business strategies are proposed to boost and reshape the Vietnam maritime economy, for instance the best policy to enhance co-operation and trade growth with other countries and regions; a variety of investigations of maritime business in strategy regions; enhancing Cai Mep - Thi Vai ports as hub port of Vietnam; the development of deep-water seaports and logistics services in Hon Khoai Island and long-term planning for main bunker compliance fuel supply or energy source for vessels; policies to enhance management and surveillance, and enforcement of the law, the innovation of administrative procedures in seaports, deep-water seaport electronic services, and electronic customs in the digital era.

The ASEAN charter is a treaty established by ten member countries in the Southeast Asia founded on December 2008. Prior to the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) charter, the Maritime Professional Education and Training Development Program was facing a challenge of disruptions relative to maritime events. Due to the disruptions of maritime events, challenges such as gap in international relations, lack of database integration in the field of maritime education and training, lack of knowledge transfer and no effective and proper framework of future development particularly in the areas of maritime education and training among the ASEAN countries existing. The goal of this paper is to motivate professionals and the relations society to collaborate in the Maritime Professional Education and Training Development: Today and Tomorrow, to be able to fill the gaps presented to this paper. In order to ensure this study can be completed in the right ways and times, the Critical Path Method (CPM) is used. As a finding of this study, all professional maritime members are expected to strengthening the international professional relations in maritime education and training system among the ASEAN region.

Southeast Asia has become a key area for the development of the “Belt and Road’ initiative (BRI). At present, among the six economic corridors planned by the BRI, Southeast Asia has covered two of them – the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor. In the meantime, Southeast Asia is also an important part of ”21st Century Maritime Silk Road“ initiative, and thus can been considered as a sample of demonstration for the globalization strategy of the BRI. This study finds that in recent years, China-invested infrastructure and connnectivity building (particularly the railway constructions) have been growing fast in Southeast Asia. In addition, a number of China-ASEAN industrial cooperation zones have been established. Together with an increasing number of enterprises settled in these zones, transnational supply chains have begun to take shape. In this context, China’s private-owned enterprises have also started to expand their investment in the Southeast Asian markets. Nonetheless, the BRI has been confronted with problems and challenges, and has been criticized for the lack of risk management, profitability, sustainability, localization and public support. It shows that the export of ”China Model“ can be problematic, as it remains not adapted to other countries’ local conditions. This research first looks at the achievements of the BRI in Southeast Asia, and then examines the problems and challenges in these projects. Finally, this article also aims to provide a number of policy recommendations to the Chinese government.

Transnational money laundering is a global issue that requires international solutions. This paper examines the concept of Free Movement of Judgments which should be realized in the legal integration process of the ASEAN in order to overcome the negative impacts of money laundering. This research will analyze the regulation for criminalizing money laundering in the ASEAN and compare it with the criminal cooperation in the European Union. The ASEAN Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (MLAT 2004) is expected to be an alternative to an extradition treaty. If adopting the Free Movement of Judgements, judicial decisions of an ASEAN member country regarding transnational crimes of money laundering would be recognized and implemented in other member’s jurisdiction reciprocally. This adoption is expected to be an effective solution to overcome impunity in cross-border money laundering actors.

This paper explores Thailand’s partial liberalization of the electricity industry and to what extent is a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) allowed in the electricity sector. As Thailand is an ASEAN Member State, the paper aims to review whether the partial liberalization under the ESB model is consistent with the commitments of the ASEAN. The paper examines both the ACIA and the AFAS, and it finds that Thailand has no commitment under both agreements relevant to entry of a FDI in its electricity sector. However, Thailand already allows the entry of a FDI in the power generation business which is aligned with the principles of market access and National Treatment that fulfill the obligations under the ACIA and the AFAS in case Thailand will make any commitments in the future. It is noted that electricity transmissions and the distribution and supply businesses are still prohibited for both Thai and foreign investors.