Arf Preventive Diplomacy

It was Dag Hammarskj?ld, the second secretary-general of the United Nations, who first used the specific term -- preventive diplomacy -- officially in his annual work report in 1960. Nonetheless, the international community did not attach much importance to preventive diplomacy due to the bipolar system. The end of the cold war witnessed the rise of preventive diplomacy. Secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali issued An Agenda for Peace in 1992, which represented the revival of preventive diplomacy. And now preventive diplomacy has been enlarged both in terms of connotation and denotation, becoming an important form of diplomacy in maintaining peace and security.Based on the summary of the mainstreams in academic world, this dissertation reviewed the formation of definition, as well as the background and features of preventive diplomacy. The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) has primarily formed its own preventive diplomacy with Asia-Pacific characteristics. Preventive diplomacy is the initial practice of this theory in Asia-Pacific region, especially in Southeast Asia, and also is the new stage of ARF security cooperation regime. With the case of South China Sea dispute, this dissertation researches the feasibility of preventive diplomacy on the basis of previous studies, and try to make some comments on the efficiency of ARF preventive diplomacy.This dissertation argues that preventive diplomacy is necessary and feasible as well, but also faces many challenges in practice. Complex as it is, simple statement can never accommodate the theory with practice. What is overwhelmingly important is to take the practical attitude and to make specific analysis on specific circumstance. The interaction of theory and practice will make preventive diplomacy more and more effective.