Asia vs. ASEAN and ASEAN vs. Southeast Asia
Some people are still not sure what Asia, ASEAN and Southeast Asia are. It is sometimes confusing as some people, noticeably students, use the term Asia to describes the ASEAN, and some people use the term ASEAN to talk about Southeast Asian region or vice versa. Actually, these three terms, Asia, ASEAN and Southeast Asia, are different.
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Asia is a continent, which can be defined as all of the land mass on the continent of Asia wast of the Mediterranean sea, plus the island of Japan and Southeast Asia, according to Understanding Australia's Neighbors (Nick Knight & Michael Wotherspoon, 2011). Asia includes:
- Asia (or the sub-continent of Asia - India, West and Southwest Asia (often called the Middle East - Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and other countries)
- South Pakistan: Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka
- Northern and Central Asia: Russia, the Central Asian states, namely Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and more.
- East Asia: China Japan, and North and south Korea
- Southeast Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippine, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The term "ASEAN" comes from Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN is an association that is established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand. Generally speaking, it is a regional organization in Southeast Asia. The co-founders are Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Later on, five other countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia join fully to be its members. There are 10 members..
Base on ASEAN official website, the aims and purposes of ASEAN are:
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- To accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavours in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations;
- To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries of the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter;
- To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields;
- To provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities in the educational, professional, technical and administrative spheres;
- To collaborate more effectively for the greater utilisation of their agriculture and industries, the expansion of their trade, including the study of the problems of international commodity trade, the improvement of their transportation and communications facilities and the raising of the living standards of their peoples;
- To promote Southeast Asian studies; and
- To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes, and explore all avenues for even closer cooperation among themselves.
Southeast Asia is a region which lies from the South of India to the East of China. Southeast Asia consists of 11 countries, namely Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (or Burma), the Philippine, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Moreover, the region Southeast Asia can be divided into two sub-regions. First, mainland Southeast Asia concludes Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Second, island Southeast Asia comprises Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippine, and parts of Malaysia (Nick Knight & Michael Wotherspoon, 2011).
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In short, Asia, ASEAN and Southeast Asia are three different entities. Asia is the biggest continent in the world. ASEAN is the regional organization consisting of 10 members. Southeast Asia is the region lies from the South to the East in Asia comprising 11 countries. Hopefully, you will never use a wrong term again.
