ASEAN DEFENSE FORUM (ADF): The US Design for Building Up Military Alliance in South East Asia?

By : Hendrajit*

Paranoid has seemed to be such an order of the day for the United States (US) over the last few years in directing her foreign policy and national security. Especially related to the military matters, a reliable source within the Indonesia’s Parliamentary said that over the last few months, policy makers of President George W. Bush have been conducting a high-level diplomacy to persuade ASEAN countries to build up the military alliance in South East Asia under the umbrella of what called as ASEAN DEFENSE FORUM (ADF).

The interesting side of the story is that the Philippine which is widely known as one of the US reliable ally since the War World Two, is being forced by the US to appear as the principle initiator of promoting ADF as the South East Asia-based military organ.

<>The fundamental question that needs to be answered is whether ADF will finally lead to the building up of military alliance modeled on SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organization) such as in the era of Cold War between US versus Soviet Union and People’s Republic of China.

Of course at the moment it is still too early to be confirmed. So far, there is no confirmation on the part of Foreign Affairs Department as well as members of Commission I of the Parliament (DPR).

But several reliable sources give the information that US policy makers have been lobbying Philippine to initiate the building up of ADF as military alliance and persuading the other members of ASEAN to solidify the possible defense alliance and security through the ADF mechanism for coordinating and communicating the similar steps among the members of ASEAN countries. The goal is clear: to influence the ASEAN Countries to become pro-US military forces in South East Asia.

Despite the fact that this information still needs to be further clarified, there are several indications which justify this information. Firstly, over the last few months there were several members of the Indonesia’s  parliament visiting Philippine. Was it related to the plan to build up the US-sponsored ADF? It has yet to be further confirmation. But as a trend, it deserves to be monitored  its upcoming developments.

But the fact is clear that since the early days of Cold War era between US versus Soviet Union and China, Philippine has been considered as US  as a reliable ally in Asia Pacific region.

When Indonesia became the host country initiating the Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, April 1955,  Philippine was the only Asian country insisting on taking sides with the US against the majority of Asian-African countries which rejected the influence of both the US and Soviet Union. The majority of Asian-African Countries were committed to build the third force outside the influence of the US and Soviet Union in the cold war between liberal capitalism versus Communism.

It is therefore logical if the US dealing with its plan to initiate the establishment of ADF, relies heavily on Philippine to persuade the other ASEAN Countries. With the establishment of the ADF, the country has the space of maneuver to promote its strategic interests in the South East Asia regions as its political, economic and military.

According to one of parliamentary members (DPR) from Commission I overseeing defense told the author that the US idea of establishing ADF seems quite logical amid the growing fear of Bush’ administration over the strengthening influence of People’s Republic of China in the Asia Pacific region, especially in South East Asia.

US policy makers seem to become more and more worried and paranoid  over the current predictions and researches  conducted by several strategic study centers predicting and projecting the possible emergence of China as a new superpower in Asia Pacific.

US becomes more and more paranoid when rereading the book written by Dr Samuel Huntington entitled the Clash of Civilization which projected that in the year 2010 the US and China will get involved in the war at the massive scale, and will be involving the other countries from Middle East and Central Asia. Under such circumstances, US feels worried that countries of Asia Pacific region will be dragged into the war, and should take sides whether supporting US or China.

With such kind of fear and projection made by Huntington, the ADF will be designed by the US and ally in South East Asia as a preemptive strategy to anticipate the worst case scenario where the US might be forced to take open confrontation against China in this region.

Referring to the possible scenarios made by Huntington and other political scholars, the upcoming establishment of the ADF is likely to be seen merely as a kind of speculation, but it is something real and being designed by the US strategic policy ma