The Kuala Lumpur Statement

THE KUALA LUMPUR STATEMENT 8 JUNE 1993 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COUNCIL FOR SECURITY COOPERATION IN THE ASIA PACIFIC (CSCAP)

The ending of the Cold War and the fundamental transformation ensuing from the elimination of superpower rivalry have provoked a far-reaching re-evaluation of security arrangements in the Asia Pacific region.

Four institutions in the region, namely the ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN ISIS), the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), Pacific Forum/CSIS (Honolulu), and the Seoul Forum for International Affairs, together with representatives of other research institutes from the region, have undertaken an in-depth examination of the security issues and challenges facing Asia Pacific today and in the future. test

A series of conferences on Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (SCAP) have been held: first in Honolulu (October 29-30, 1991), second in Bali (April 17-19, 1992), and third in Seoul (November 1-3, 1992). Participants from seventeen countries, including scholars as well as officials acting in their private capacities, have taken part in these meetings.

The discussions at these meetings have clearly shown the need for more structured processes for regional confidence building and security cooperation. The meetings welcomed the initiatives at the official level to develop a formal or informal inter-governmental regional forum for dialogue on political-security issues.

In particular, the meetings noted the concrete steps that have been taken by the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) at which the six ASEAN foreign ministers (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) meet annually with foreign ministers of other Asia Pacific countries (Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and the United States) and a representative of the European Community.The participants in the CSCAP process believe that the PMC makes a significant contribution to the development of a multilateral political-security dialogue for the Asia Pacific region.The participants support the multilateralisation of the ASEAN PMC process and the establishment of a Senior Officials Meeting (SOM). The participants in the SCAP process believe that the ASEAN PMC process should be inclusive and welcome the early inclusion of other countries in the region.

The participants also welcomed initiatives for the establishment of other regional processes, such as the North Pacific Cooperative Security Dialogue proposal. These initiatives can only strengthen the broader regional processes.

As representatives of non-governmental institutions concerned with the security, stability and peace of the region, we also feel that we have the responsibility to contribute to the efforts towards regional confidence building and enhancing regional security through dialogues, consultations and cooperation.

It is with this objective in mind that we are establishing a Council for Security Cooperation in Asia Pacific (CSCAP). It will be open to all countries and territories in the region. The Council's activities will be guided by a Steering Committee consisting of representatives of non-governmental institutions in the region who are committed to the ideals of regional security cooperation.

Steering Committee members will seek to establish broadbased committees in each of their respective countries or territories. These committees should include government officials in their private capacities.

We also propose that CSCAP establish Working Groups that will be given the tasks of undertaking policy-oriented studies on specific regional political-security problems.

Initially the CSCAP Steering Committee will be co-chaired by Amos Jordan (Pacific Forum/CSIS) and Jusuf Wanandi (CSIS Jakarta). The Steering Committee will be served by a Secretariat. ISIS Malaysia has accepted this responsibility for the first two years.

The founding members of CSCAP are:

Kuala Lumpur, 8 June 1993