英语论文网

ticipation of Cambodia, ASEAN would have more benefits than the losses although Cambodia is not a rich country.

柬埔寨在东盟政治与安全方面的作用-The political and security role of Cambodia in ASEAN

After three decades of the formation of ASEAN, in the early 2000s, ASEAN has promoted another community which is called ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) to enhance the peace and stability in the region. ASEAN envisioned that this community will be achieved by 2020; also, 'a€|the APSC seeks to strengthen the mutually beneficial relations between ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners and friends.' (ASEAN-Secretariat, 2009). After the joint of Cambodia in 1999, Cambodia has always been active as a member of ASEAN. Moreover, Cambodia does play significant role in terms of contributing efforts in order to solve political and security issues.

There are two main cases for political problems which Cambodia can notably involve in. First and foremost, it is the case of South China Sea (SCS) conflict. In SCS conflict, six countries including China, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippine, and Vietnam are having the dispute over the South China Sea as that terrain is really appealing; it could benefit both strategical importance and natural resources. The reason why Cambodia can play a good role is that Cambodia does not have any territory in the SCS, so Cambodia may become a suitable negotiator for those claimant states. Clearly, Cambodia has good relations with both sides China and ASEAN members; therefore, those nations could believe that Cambodia would be unbiased to any country. Unlike Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand could not be good mediators because they seem to tilt to the US, so China would not be satisfied if the Philippines and Thailand act as the mediators. Another case would be the conflict between North and South Korea. North and South Korea, which have had struggle for many years, have just fought against each other again recently in November, 2010. Cambodia, as a member of ASEAN, can again act a mediator and find conflict resolutions for both Korea. If compare to some other nations in ASEAN, Cambodia will play better role since its relationship with North and South Korea is good. Unlike Cambodia, the Philippines would not be considered as a good negotiator for North Korea because it may think that Philippines tilt to the US, and the US's ideology is different from North Korea. Likewise, Thailand is also deemed as the Philippines. In short, in terms of political role, Cambodia is important for solving conflicts like the conflict in SCS and Korean peninsula.

For security role, there are also two main points which Cambodia has engaged vitally with ASEAN. Obviously, the most important is that Cambodia helps ASEAN prevent the spread of avian influenza. 'Since outbreaks occurred in 2004, ASEAN Member Countries have worked closely with each other and key international agencies/organizations to contain outbreaks and prevent transmission.' (ASEAN-Secretariat, ND). Like other members, Cambodia has always been active in promoting the advertisement through newspaper and televisions to its citizens of how to protect themselves from the infection of avian influenza. In doing so, not only Cambodian citizens can avoid the confrontation of being harm, but also the other nations in ASEAN as well as Cambodia has helped reduce the amount of spreading. The other powerful point is that Cam