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Southeast Asian Countries Union Is Formed To Harmonize Economic Strategies, Combat Worldwide Terrorism

By Christian Savoy
Published on: 13:44 PST, Nov 22, 2015

The summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ended today with the integration of the 10 economies into a single market and a call to confront terrorism and defuse tension over territorial disputes. Following the recent attacks in Paris, Beirut and Mali, as well as the attack on the Russian plane in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, the leaders of the member countries of ASEAN signed a final declaration in which they agreed to combat terrorism in all its forms.

According to The Associated Press, 13 years after the idea was birthed, Southeast Asian leaders on Sunday formally created a unified economic partnership in a more populous and diverse region than the EU or North America, with the expectation to compete with China and India.

“ASEAN integration will help balance the economic power of China and India,” Michael G. Plummer, a professor of international economics at the Europe Center of Johns Hopkins University, said. “Individually, ASEAN countries are, perhaps, too small to be important players in the economic and security game, but as an integrated group of more than half a billion people, they would be in the major league.”

The formation of the Southeast Asian Countries Union comes just days after President Barack Obama declared that extremists will find no safe haven anywhere in the world, while describing the jihadist group Islamic State as “a bunch of killers with good social media.” Obama also said that “the most powerful tool we have is to say we are not afraid.”

“We do not succumb to fear,” Obama said during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur. “The most powerful tool we have to fight ISIL is to say that we’re not afraid. To not elevate them and to somehow buy into their fantasy that they’re doing something important.”

Obama stressed that the strategy against terrorists in Syria and Iraq is to regain territory, interrupt funding, and dismantle the leadership of the jihadists.

“Our way of life is stronger. We have more to offer. We represent 99.9 percent of humanity and that’s why we should be confident that we will win,” the president said, before calling on Russia to bomb the jihadists and not the moderate opposition in Syria. The secretary general of the United Nations (UN), Ban Ki-moon, urged Russia and the United States to cooperate to end terrorism.

“All these terrorists and ideology extremists should be defeated in the name of humanity,” Ban said during a meeting in Malaysia with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the annual East Asia Summit.

Meanwhile, the 10 leaders of the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed a declaration at the summit of the Economic Community of the ASEAN. The host of the summit, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, praised the creation of the new ASEAN Economic Community and he called it a “landmark achievement” and urged members to accelerate integration.

“The region is primed to expand exponentially,” he said.

The Christian Science Monitor reported that in a document that outlines the organization’s goals, the members agree to cooperate in areas like combating terrorism and drug and human trafficking; increasing maritime safety and security; and encouraging economic growth across borders.

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