Vietnam And ASEAN: A Perspective Of International Political Economy

The admission of Vietnam to ASEAN symbolizes that the international relations in Southeast Asia has changed fundamentally, evolving from struggle to c, from enemy to friends. Why did Vietnam desire joining ASEAN? Why did ASEAN countries admit Vietnam's joining? What is the significance of Vietnam's joining? The author try to adopt the research methods of international political economy to answer these questions mentioned above.Being the member of ASEAN is a part of Vietnam's foreign strategies, which emphasizes on the national interests more than regional interests. To this extent, Vietnam just takes ASEAN as an instrument because ASEAN is of great significance for Vietnam to fulfill international interests, such as international recognization and respect. The fact that ASEAN is instrumental determines that ASEAN's influence on Vietnam is very limited. Vietnam will take identical standing with ASEAN when ASEAN's decision complies to Vietnam's national interests, on the contrary, when it can't, the unity of ASEAN will be challenged.The ASEAN enlargement by accepting Vietnam has increased its size and influence on regional affairs; however, it also accompanies huge challenges. What is affected is the internal relationship of ASEAN countries, especially the leading countries. In addition, although the construction of ASEAN Free Trade Area has provided a new opportunity for ASEAN members to cooperate, a lot of new problems has been arising, such as the imbalance of economy level and benefits distribution, which is the main reason that the agreements can't be obeyed.In sum, though Vietnam has the ASEAN membership, its identity toward ASEAN is relatively low, which leads to that ASEAN's restriction and influence is quite limited. Meanwhile, ASEAN will have to focus on solving the newly arising problems accompanying with the enlargement, which is a great challenge towards ASEAN's unity.