Full Form of ASEAN

What is the full form of ASEAN?

ASEAN stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a successful regional intergovernmental organization that comprises ten Southeast Asian countries to promote intergovernmental cooperation and increase political, economic, security, educational, military, and socio-cultural integration between the representative and non-representative nations.

ASEAN usually works in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond and is a major Shanghai Cooperation Organization force that operates a regional network of alliances and representatives of the dialogue. It is a global powerhouse and a central Asia-Pacific cooperative union.

History of ASEAN

• Founded by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand on 8 August 1967, in Bangkok, Thailand.
• Many other nations became a part of this organization later, like Brunei (on 7 January 1984), Vietnam ( on 28 July 1997), Cambodia (on 30 April 1999), and Laos and Myanmar (on 23 July 1997).
• The organization signed the Amity and Cooperation Treaty in 1976 to show peace, friendship, and cooperation between the nations.
• ASEAN Plus Three Forum was established in 1997. This was to expand regional integration with South Korea, China, and Japan being part of this organization.
• ASEAN representatives have a trade-promoting free trade deal amongst themselves and an agreement to not build nuclear weapons and prevent terrorism.
• In 2005 the East Asia Summit was launched with Australia, India, Russia, New Zealand, and the US being a part of this summit.

Basic Principles of ASEAN

Following are the adopted principles in the TAC (Treaty of Amity and Cooperation) followed by the ASEAN member states:

• A common platform for freedom, equality, and territorial sovereignty.
• Any rising member state has the right to pursue national life freely without any outside intervention, rebellion, or powers
• Member nations don’t have the right to interfere in the internal matters of other member nations.
• Conflicts and contradictions should be resolved through cooperative means
• Member states should avoid the use of power, and foster practical cooperation among themselves.