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n. During 1960s, it was hard for many nations to have full sovereignty since the world had been mainly organized by two superpowers which were the US and the USSR. Obviously, small states could not do anything during that period as they were afraid of the angers of either the US or the USSR. If small states aligned with the US, the USSR would be angry. Vice versa, if those small states aligned with the USSR, the US would be irritated. As those five nations realized that creating ASEAN will be an effective way which could keep them safe from the ideological conflict between the US and the USSR, they gathered together and signed the declaration. In addition, the creation of ASEAN also helps the five countries increase their voices in the international fora. Apparently, in the international community, a weak state would not influence the stronger state because the weak one does not have the ability to do so. As a consequence, weak states have to join together so that they can become stronger than the strong state. Then, they will have the opportunities to issue their problem to the stronger states.

¼íÆÒÕ¯³ÉΪÃËÓѵÄÀúÊ·-The History of Cambodia to become Membership

Why was Cambodia late to join ASEAN?

After the election which was organized by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia in 1993, Cambodia was likely to fall into a politics which had two co-prime ministers. One was Cambodia People's Party (CPP) which was ruled by Mr. Hun Sen while another one was FUNCINPEC which was under controlled of Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Obviously, 'Prince Norodom Ranariddh's royalist FUNCINPEC Party won the election with around 46 percent vote, followed by Mr. Hun Sen's CPP and the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party, respectively.' ('1997 clashes in Cambodia,' 2010). Although FUNCIPEC Party won the election and ruled the country, the CPP's role in the politics was even stronger in terms of military power. Consequently, the tensions between these two parties were created as the CPP's power was more powerful than the FUNCINPEC party. Those extended tensions were the reasons which caused the factional fighting among those two ruling parties in 1997, and also led to the delay of Cambodia's participation in ASEAN.

'In July 1993, Cambodia attended the 26th ASEAN ministerial meeting as an official guest for the first time since the group's inception.' (Shaftel, ND). At that time, Prince Norodom Sirivudh, the minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, was the representative of Cambodia attending the meeting. In December, 1994, the Secretary General of ASEAN visited Cambodia as a guest of Foreign Minister of Cambodia as Cambodia submitted the application for the observer status in 1994. In July, 1995, the application of Cambodia for observer status was approved, and Cambodia signed the Treaty of Amity when Vietnam was admitted as an ASEAN member that year. After the approval of Cambodia application for observer status, Burma's submission was also approved; therefore, ASEAN followed the Lao foreign minister who had the 'a€|desire to join ASEAN on the group's 30th anniversarya€|.' (Shaftel, ND). However, things did not go on well as what Cambodia had expected. Before Cambodia could join ASEAN, Cambodia needed to meet some of the ASEAN's criteria, but Cambodia's political instability could be considered as a barrier for Cambodia to join ASEAN in 1997. That year, 'The violenc±¾ÂÛÎÄÓÉÓ¢ÓïÂÛÎÄÍøÌṩÕûÀí£¬ÌṩÂÛÎÄ´úд£¬Ó¢ÓïÂÛÎÄ´úд£¬´úдÂÛÎÄ£¬´úдӢÓïÂÛÎÄ£¬´úдÁôѧÉúÂÛÎÄ£¬´úдӢÎÄÂÛÎÄ£¬ÁôѧÉúÂÛÎÄ´úдÏà¹ØºËÐĹؼü´ÊËÑË÷¡£