23 May 2016
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- The 10th ADMM: Time for More Discussion on Traditional Security?
The ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) holds its tenth meeting on May 24 in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic. This anniversary should not be taken lightly, for its achievements over the decade are not insignificant—the forum has deepened confidence and trust among the ten ASEAN countries, and has done relatively well in engaging with external powers, especially in the transfer of expertise through the ADMM-Plus, where such engagement was previously perceived to be contrary to regional interests.
The ADMM and its Plus counterpart, the latter of which consists of eight extra-regional countries such as the United States, China, Japan, are widely acknowledged to have done well in fostering cooperation in non-traditional security (NTS) areas. Such initiatives have continued in a sustained manner, such as the successful conduct of the ADMM-Plus Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and Military Medicine Exercise in June 2013, the agreement to form an ASEAN Militaries Ready Group in March 2015, and the launch of the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine in April 2016.
… Henrick Z. Tsjeng is Associate Research Fellow with the Regional Security Architecture Programme, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
IDSS / Online
Last updated on 24/05/2016