ASEAN was designed to become that partof the world the West feared would fall into Chinese hands. It did. But not the Communist Chinese hands. Not even Vietnam.
The Americans and the British had an idea of creating a middle class of nimble fingered Asian women and ambitious English educated men from the major racial groups, the Kuomintang Chinese being 90% of all of these groups.
ASEAN fell captive to the Chinese. The Kuomintang Chinese. The US turned a blind eye to their crimniality as long as they served as a bulwark against Communist Chinese expansion in the region.
That plan collapsed aftere the fall of Vietnam to the Soviet backed North.
It was each to his own with Suharto a military dictator, Marcos a dictatorial despot and Le Kuan Yew a despot but a smarter one than the ottther two. Indo China had to be checked.
Todays ASEAN is nothing more than a directionless shell of is former self waiting for a powerful nation (both militarily and econommically) to give it direccction and pupose.
Sine China and India are two claws of a very strong crab, ASEAN is left with fe coinces of its own but to prepare to sucumb to the crab itself. And that crab today is neither the Soviets, or the USA. ASEAN not even Singapore has any political clout to be independent of the super powers.
BRICS can be that meat that will fill in the vaccum political and economic left by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the USA. One side (Vietnam and Laos(not Cambodia) re suspicious of China. So too the Philippines. Singapore is somewhere in between whilst the Philippines is anti Chinese.
To ASEAN the choices are stark and clear. Its either duck or dinner. None of them have a leader of quality than can rise to their challenges as Mahathir or Lee Kuan Yew did in thir time.
ASEAN was designed to become that partof the world the West feared would fall into Chinese hands. It did. But not the Communist Chinese hands. Not even Vietnam.
The Americans and the British had an idea of creating a middle class of nimble fingered Asian women and ambitious English educated men from the major racial groups, the Kuomintang Chinese being 90% of all of these groups.
ASEAN fell captive to the Chinese. The Kuomintang Chinese. The US turned a blind eye to their crimniality as long as they served as a bulwark against Communist Chinese expansion in the region.
That plan collapsed aftere the fall of Vietnam to the Soviet backed North.
It was each to his own with Suharto a military dictator, Marcos a dictatorial despot and Le Kuan Yew a despot but a smarter one than the ottther two. Indo China had to be checked.
Todays ASEAN is nothing more than a directionless shell of is former self waiting for a powerful nation (both militarily and econommically) to give it direccction and pupose.
Sine China and India are two claws of a very strong crab, ASEAN is left with fe coinces of its own but to prepare to sucumb to the crab itself. And that crab today is neither the Soviets, or the USA. ASEAN not even Singapore has any political clout to be independent of the super powers.
BRICS can be that meat that will fill in the vaccum political and economic left by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the USA. One side (Vietnam and Laos(not Cambodia) re suspicious of China. So too the Philippines. Singapore is somewhere in between whilst the Philippines is anti Chinese.
To ASEAN the choices are stark and clear. Its either duck or dinner. None of them have a leader of quality than can rise to their challenges as Mahathir or Lee Kuan Yew did in thir time.