Economic and Security Challenges for ASEAN during the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Alexander and Angelo Wijaya
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented brand new challenges for ASEAN. In this unprecedented time of uncertainty and volatility, ASEAN could potentially face financial hurdles, global recession, stalled economic growth, cybersecurity issues, and even traditional security challenges such as those in the South China Sea.
On May 8, 2020, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to ASEAN, H.E. Ade Padmo Sarwono sat down and had a fruitful discussion with academia, researchers, students, and stakeholders alike on how ASEAN is addressing the impact of, and the challenges presented by, the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the economic pillar, ASEAN tries to ensure that the economy and supply chain remains uninterrupted, cross-border investment remains working, the livelihoods of MSMEs are safeguarded, and that the tourism industry can quickly recover once the pandemic ends. On the political-security pillar, ASEAN set up the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) Working Group (WG) on Public Health Emergency and tries to maximize the role of the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine (ACMM).
Last month, ASEAN leaders attended the emergency virtual summit that is also known as the Special ASEAN Summit on COVID-19. Under the initiative of Thailand, Ambassador Sarwono said, ASEAN established the ASEAN COVID-19 Response Fund. Through the ASEAN+3 scheme, which include China, Japan, and South Korea, ASEAN tries to gather contribution from each member for the Response Fund, with the additional assistance from the latter three. The initial contribution will be drawn from the existing ASEAN Development Fund, in which around 10% of the Development Fund’s budget will be allocated for the COVID-19 Response Fund.
UGM ASEAN Society was in attendance of the talk. We asked Ambassador Sarwono on ASEAN’s response to China’s inconsistent behavior — whereas on the one hand, China is helping ASEAN to fight COVID-19 through the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on COVID-19 on February 2020 and through the Special ASEAN Plus Three Summit on COVID-19 on April 2020, but on the other hand China keeps entering the disputed South China Sea waters during this pandemic, which many sees as a provocation. We also asked Ambassador Sarwono on ASEAN’s initiative to forge further cooperation among states, especially ASEAN’s external partners, through the ASEAN-centered East Asia Summit (EAS) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
Firstly, Ambassador Sarwono acknowledged that while the negotiation process on the South China Sea has been showing tremendous progress, it is not fully reflected in the situation on the ground. He also acknowledged that the negotiation on the Code of Conduct (COC) on the South China Sea has been halted by this pandemic. He is optimistic, however, that ASEAN will be able to navigate through these rough waters and will be able to have a balanced response to China, meaning that ASEAN will keep cooperating with China vis-à-vis COVID-19 response and will keep engaging China on the South China Sea issue. Secondly, Ambassador Sarwono told the audience that ASEAN has already pushed the initiative to have a dialogue on health response to COVID-19 on the EAS level. He said that while discussions on ARF level is still yet to be seen, he welcomes the idea to have an ARF level cooperation to respond to COVID-19.
