Last year was the most challenging year for ASEAN and also for Cambodia as the ASEAN Chair. ASEAN faced many regional problems, some occurring simultaneously, including the issue of the South China Sea and other territorial disputes between China and Japan, and South Korea and Japan. The United States also announced its new strategic ‘pivot to Asia’. Many analysts assert that the policy’s purpose is to counter-balance China’s growing influence in the region.

On the economic front, slow economic growth in the US, fear of its fiscal cliff and the debt crisis in the EU brought further economic and financial uncertainties to the East Asian region.

In this context, it was the ASEAN Chair’s role to make sure ASEAN moved forward despite ongoing regional problems and disputes. Cambodia successfully did this in 2012 to enhance ASEAN’s credibility and cohesiveness. For example, Cambodia presided over ASEAN’s adoption of the long-awaited ASEAN Human Rights Declaration and the Bali Concord III Plan of Action (2013–17), which outlined a common platform for ASEAN in its external relations. Cambodia successfully convened the first ASEAN Global Dialogue immediately after the 21st ASEAN Summit.

With Cambodia as chair, ASEAN also officially launched the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, agreed to establish the ASEAN Regional Mine Action Centre in Cambodia, and launched the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) between ASEAN and China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. Cambodia also managed to get the UK, the EU, and Brazil, the first country in Latin America, to accede to Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC).

These successes can provide momentum to make ASEAN more action-oriented and focused on ASEAN community building with the aims of achieving an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015 and accelerating regional economic integration in the region.

Yet some critics have accused Cambodia of siding with China on the issue of South China Sea after ASEAN failed to issue the traditional joint communiqué at the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM) in July 2012. The non-issuance arose because there was no consensus among ASEAN members, especially the claimant states, on  a section of the draft joint communiqué, when two members demanded that references to the contentious Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the Scarborough Shoal be included in a  paragraph on bilateral disputes in the South China Sea. According to the Article 20 of ASEAN Charter, decision-making in ASEAN shall be based on consultation and consensus among all member states.

However, with the help of Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa’s shuttle diplomacy, ASEAN’s Six-Point Principles on the issue of the South China Sea was issued in Phnom Penh on 20 July 2012. This outcome strongly indicates that ASEAN still remains united on this most contentious issue. Cambodian officials have claimed that the content of the Six-Point Principles is exactly the same as Cambodia’s proposal during the 45th AMM, but that it was flatly rejected by the two countries at the time.

When Cambodia was ASEAN Chair for the first time in 2002, it invested tremendous diplomatic effort to get ASEAN foreign ministers and China to successfully adopt the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), which lay down the framework for peaceful settlement of the dispute and called for the eventual conclusion of the Code of Conduct. When Cambodia chaired ASEAN for the second time in 2012, ASEAN and China adopted a joint statement on the 10th anniversary of DOC in November, which reaffirms the importance of the DOC and also calls for relevant parties to refrain from any activities that could escalate the tension in the South China Sea.

Despite accusations of Cambodia’s bias toward China over the South China Sea issue, both the DOC and the Joint Statement on the 10th anniversary of the DOC have been adopted with Cambodia’s assistance and ASEAN Chairmanship in order to help resolve the disputes peacefully. This significantly contributes to easing the tension in the region.

Notably, all ASEAN leaders have demonstrated their commitment to maintaining ASEAN’s unity and centrality by coming to Phnom Penh for the 21st ASEAN Summit, after the regional crisis in July 2012.

Cambodia has exhausted all efforts to ensure ASEAN’s cohesiveness, and to enhance ASEAN’s relations with external partners, as prescribed in article 32 of the ASEAN Charter. Its achievements for ASEAN therefore heavily outweigh the shortfalls and mishaps under its chairmanship in 2012.

From January 2013, Brunei, one of the claimant states in the South China Sea, will take over the ASEAN Chairmanship. All eyes will be on how Brunei addresses the South China Sea issue and ASEAN’s other challenges. Regional conflicts and strategic rivalry for regional influence by major powers, especially China and the United States, are seen as major obstacles to regionalism in East Asia. Yet they also create a strong impetus for ASEAN to play a major role in maintaining regional stability and in building regional communities, such as the ASEAN community and the East Asian Community.

Heng Sarith is a Research Fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace.

The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace