U.S. Accession to ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC)

In February 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that the Obama Administration would launch its formal interagency process to pursue accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation TAC, one of the 10-nation organizations core documents. This report will analyze the legal and diplomatic issues involved in the possible accession to the TAC. ASEAN is Southeast Asias primary multilateral organization. Its 10 member-nations include over 500 million people. Collectively, ASEAN is one of the United States largest trading partners, constituting about 5-6 of total U.S. trade. Geographically, Southeast Asia includes some of the worlds most critical sea lanes, including the Straits of Malacca, through which pass a large percentage of the worlds trade. The TAC was first negotiated in 1976 and subsequently amended to allow nonregional countries to accede. Fifteen countries have done so, including U.S. allies Japan, South Korea, and Australia, as well as China, Russia, and India. Within ASEAN, accession to the TAC by nonmembers often is seen as a symbol of commitment to engagement in Southeast Asia, and to the organizations emphasis on multilateral processes. The United States is the only major Pacific power not to have acceded, one of many pieces of evidence that Southeast Asian leaders have cited in arguing that the United States has neglected Southeast Asia generally, and ASEAN specifically. The major concern with accession is whether the TACs emphasis on noninterference in other countries domestic affairs would constrain U.S. freedom of action, particularly its ability to maintain or expand sanctions on Burma. Other objections have included arguments that acceding would accord greater legitimacy to the ruling Burmese junta a view that ASEAN is insufficiently action-oriented and a belief that the TAC is an untested, arguably meaningless agreement.