SAJC H2 History Paper 2 2023 Interstate Tensions Notes

Paper 2: Developments in Southeast Asia (Independence – 2000) Theme III: Regional Conflicts and Cooperation 1 SAJC/History Department/SEA/JC1/Theme 3: Regional Conflicts and Cooperation /Lt8/2024/ INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY Lecture 8: Inter-state Tensions and Cooperation SAJC History Unit, 2024 1. Introduction 2. Case Study 1 – The Water Dispute (Singapore -Malaysia Relations) 3. Case Study 2 – Dispute over Sabah (Malaysia -Philippines Relations) 4. Case Study 3 – Konfrontasi (Malaysia-Indonesia Relations) 5. Case Study 4 – Dispute over Preah Vihear (Thailand - Cambodia Relations) 6. Case Study 5 – Third Indochina War (Vietnam -Cambodia Relations)

Paper 2: Developments in Southeast Asia (Independence – 2000) Theme III: Regional Conflicts and Cooperation 2 SAJC/History Department/SEA/JC1/Theme 3: Regional Conflicts and Cooperation /Lt8/2024/ INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY 1. Introduction • Security analysts have come to perceive that some sort of security community now exists in SEA. ASEAN’s growing political cohesion is evidenced by its success in leading an anti - Vietnam coalition in the UN during the Cambodian Crisis, by the establishment of an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and by its prominent role in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). • However, this does not in any way imply that inter-state tensions, and historical, racial and religious animosities that characterised member states’ relations in the early days of their independence in the 1960s -70s no longer matter with the success of ASEAN regional cooperation. In actual fact, such inter -state dynamics affect inter -state relations continue to underl ie relations between member -states. It has also placed serious constraints on the development of an ASEAN security and economic community along the lines of the European community. • Indeed, in the words of then Singapore Foreign Minister Wong Kan Seng in 1990, “The prime reason for conflict in SEA was never superpower intervention but local rivalries that had their root causes in historical animosities, racial and religious divisions or competition for influence and resources.” 1.1 Main Themes to be Discussed • Two main areas of focus: o Causes of interstate conflicts - Historical animosities, racial and religious divisions, ideological differences and territorial disputes. o Consequences of interstate conflicts - Mutual suspicion and hostility, impact on regional cooperation, constraints on cooperative regionalism etc. - More importantly we will be specifically evaluating the successes and limitations of ASEAN as a resolution dispute mechanism through its many efforts and policies such as its predecessors (ASA and MAPHILINDO), ZOPFAN, Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, ARF and the idea of ASEAN as a security community. - The only instance of UN intervention in SEA interstate disputes would be during the Cambodian Crisis.