An Analysis Of The Security Cooperation Between The EU And ASEAN From The Perspective Of Interregionalism

After the end of the Cold War,the international security situation has undergone new changes.It is mainly characterized by the severity of non-traditional security threats which are intertwined with some traditional security issues,while international security governance is facing numerous obstacles.Against this background,the European Union(EU)and ASEAN,as representatives of regional international organizations,have started to explore inter-regional security cooperation.Since the establishment of dialogue relations,security cooperation between the two sides has gone through three stages: early exploration and tortuous development,the rapid development of counter-terrorism cooperation,and maturation of multifaceted cooperation.The cooperation is characterized by institutionalized cooperation,a focus on non-traditional security and an EU-led cooperation approach.From the perspective of the EU,there are many reasons for EU-ASEAN security cooperation,among which,economic interests are the most basic reason.The high degree of economic interdependence between the EU and ASEAN has prompted the EU to contribute to the security and stability in Southeast Asia,and the EU also needs to strengthen security cooperation with ASEAN from the perspective of economic competition and FTA strategy.In terms of political interests,the EU hopes to gain more institutional power through security cooperation with ASEAN in order to build itself as a global security actor.From the security perspective,the security cooperation with ASEAN can help the EU to deal with non-traditional security threats and traditional security risks more effectively.Finally,from the strategic perspective,the EU hopes to promote a balance in security relations in the region through its participation in Southeast Asian security governance and prevent ASEAN from falling to any major country.From the perspective of interregionalism,the EU-ASEAN security cooperation has four functional impacts on regional and global security governance: first,EU-ASEAN security cooperation fills the governance gap in Southeast Asia in the field of non-traditional security and it is conducive to maintaining the balance of security relations in the region;second,the security cooperation between the two sides enhances the density of the security institutions in Southeast Asia and establishes a multi-level security dialogue relations in multiple fields;third,the cooperation between the two sides has contributed to the rationalization of global security governance at the inter-regional level and provides more solutions;fourth,this form of security cooperation has also strengthened the construction of their own identities as regional actors.However,it should be noted that the security cooperation between the two sides still faces many impediments.The EU’ s internal difficulties in cohesion,execution and resources limit its ability to act.The differences of integration institutions and the asymmetry of their status also pose challenges to their cooperation.In addition,third-party factors such as China and the US have an important impact on EU-ASEAN security cooperation.In the face of competitive pressure from major countries,the EU needs further practical cooperation to maintain the momentum of security cooperation with ASEAN.