The ASEAN Regional Forum: The Spirit of Constructive Engagement

The ASEAN states have taken a central role in an East Asian security regime. Rather than focus on problem-solving or negotia tions, the ASEAN Regional Forum (AJRFJ stands as a consultative process to further the benefits of constructive engagement: eco nomic development and stability. Its formation recalls ASEAN's own cautious concern for building consensus and bilateral under standings in preparation for a multilateral endeavour. ASEAN-like, states are called upon to practice self-restraint, by renouncing force and interference in other states' domestic affairs. Moreover, to achieve regional stability through a balance of great powers, the ASEAN states have often facilitated inclusion of all through an informal diplomacy that limits obligations and protocol The nations of post-Cold War Asia-Pacific have launched a regional secur ity forum that faces concerns like the consolidation of Cambodia, the governance of the South China Sea, the nuclear challenge from North Korea, and the increases in arms purchases by Asian states, as well as the human rights policies of the regime in Myanmar. This ASEAN Re gional Forum (ARF) will be part of a three-phase process that begins with the annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM). ASEAN members have been meeting with Dialogue Partners (Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States) in Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC). Now there will be the ARF, made up of the ASEAN members, the Dialogue Partners, and foreign ministers from China, Russia, Vietnam, Laos, and Papua New Guinea. The motivation underlying this consultation is the common fear of instability: 'The whole