Introduction

In thinking about the advent of the twenty-first century, one is reminded of George F. Kennan's opening comments in his volume of reflections published in 1996 under the title, At A Century's Ending. Citing his friend John Luckas, Kennan concurred that ”… in no instance was a century neatly bounded by the years that formally defined it”.1 Indeed, a century should be more meaningfully defined in terms of the epoch-making events (the defining moments, so to speak) which distinguish one period of history from another. Hence, if we were to use the internationalization and extra- Europeanization of the modern international system as the defining features of the twentieth century, then this century can be said to have begun in 1914 (with the outbreak of World War I) rather than 1900. If, in that sense, the twentieth century was late in arriving, the twenty-first century is already with us — that is if we take its defining features to be the end of the Cold War and the advent of the technological revolution in global communication which has added to a more interdependent world.

For ASEAN, too, it can be said without exaggeration that the twenty-first century has already begun — if we are to look at its timetable and forward-looking agenda for regional co-operation. Before the year 2000 the geographic reach of ASEAN is expected to encompass all the ten countries of Southeast Asia, thus fulfilling the original vision of the 1967 founding document of ASEAN which envisaged a regional association of Southeast Asian nations. Both Laos and Cambodia have registered their respective interests in regional membership by 1997, having already acceded to ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Co-operation (TAC) and been granted observer status in ASEAN. Myanmar, too, submitted a formal application for ASEAN membership in mid-August 1996, being the last regional state to accede to the TAC and having acquired observer status in ASEAN and membership in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in July 1996. Following a visit to Malaysia by General Than Shwe, chairman of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), in late August 1996, Myanmar indicated more specifically a wish to join ASEAN in July 1997.