Lack of unity is ASEAN’s problem

Abstract

This article aims to present Asean’s disunity in two important respects that makes Asean lack international capability and offers opportunities to China to expand its influence into Asean.First Asean cannot come to decision on common stand to confront China’s seizure of territories in the sea.This caused by Asean member states want to conserve their sovereignty by showing their standpoints and playing their roles differently.Due to Asean disunity, .China acts according to its national views and gives no attention to declaration or recommendations by Asean. Second, tension within Asean makes Asean put a priority on its own problems.Therefore, Asean can not be an effective unified front against expanding Chinese influence.One important problem that affects many member states is Rohingya refugee crisis caused by Burma’s anti-Rohingya cleansing in northern Rakhine state. Even though, some member states take part in providing humanitarian assistance but this assistance focus on managing the crisis not getting to the root causes.The main obstacle is Myanmar mindset that holds on its sovereignty and rejects any talks relating to the issue of granting citizenship for Rohingya as undue interference in domestic affairs