(as of 14 July 2023)
NEAT Working Group on the Revitalization of ASEAN Plus Three:
Towards Stronger Functional Cooperation and Greater Visibility
Co-organized by NEAT Korea and NEAT Indonesia
Seoul, 23 June 2023
Rationale

The ASEAN Plus Three (APT) has been instrumental in fostering
cooperation among East Asian nations towards the realization of an
East Asian community since its establishment in 1997. Over the past
two decades, the APT has emerged as a prominent driver of regional
cooperation in East Asia, serving as a crucial platform for functional
collaboration within the region. It has made significant strides acrossits political-security, economic, and socio-cultural pillars, effectively
addressing numerous challenges.
TheAPThasachieved

notablemilestones,

leadingto

theinstitutionalization of functional cooperation initiatives such as theChiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) and the ASEAN Plus
Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR), in addition to numerous
ongoing cooperative programs.
However,

inrecentyears,

theAPThasbecomeincreasingly

overshadowed by other burgeoning regional architectures and theintensifying

strategic

competition
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among

major

powers.

Theemergence of new regional frameworks, such as the Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI), the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-PacificPartnership (CPTPP), the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP), theRegional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the IndoPacific Economic Framework (IPEF), has brought about overlapping andcontentious dynamics. The strategic competition among superpowers
has diverted the attention of regional countries away from the fruitfulfunctional cooperation offered by the APT. Consequently, individualcountries are reallocating resources towards responding to superpower
rivalry, resulting in diminished enthusiasm and effort towards functional
cooperation under the APT.
Recent developments and ongoing crises have necessitated arevitalization of functional cooperation in the region. First, thepandemic has had severe repercussions on the healthcare system andhas exposed inequalities based on income, age, gender, and geographic
location at both the national and regional levels. The experience during
the pandemic has underscored the need to reassess the preparedness
and resilience of the regional cooperation system. Second, the evergrowing climate crisis, reaching a critical point, poses one of the mostsignificant threats to our world and the region. Climate change andsubsequentenvironmental

challenges,

coupledwiththecosts

associated with energy transition and the adoption of renewable energy
sources, present a substantial burden to post-COVID-19 economic
recovery and growth, especially on less developed economies. Third,2

since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, regional countries have faced
increasing pressure and negative impacts, particularly concerning foodand energy security. Disruptions to food and energy supplies causedby the war pose significant questions regarding regional economic
prosperity and the stability of ordinary people's daily lives. Finally, there
is a growing trend of trade protectionism, which not only jeopardizes
individual countries' economic growth by enabling unfair competition,
but also risks the regional and global economic order.
Given these developments and threats, concerted joint efforts byregional countries are imperative. East Asian countries must intensify
theirendeavours

torebuildandreinforce

regionalfunctionalcooperation. Amidst various multilateral cooperation frameworks, theAPT has demonstrated its value as a meaningful and effective regional
mechanism for addressing the grave multifaceted crises faced byregional countries. However, the APT has fallen short on acting on its
potential to form common positions and coordinated actions amongits members on these issues.
Against this backdrop, NEAT Korea and NEAT Indonesia organized theNEAT Working Group on the Revitalization of APT: Towards Stronger
Functional Cooperation and Greater Visibility. The purpose of thisworking group was to identify current functional challenges and crises,and to explore ways to revitalize the APT. The working group convened
in Seoul on June 23, 2023, with representatives from all 13 NEAT
countries in attendance. The meeting reflected on the value of the APT,
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examined the nature of the challenges faced by the APT, and discussed
strategic responses and policies to revitalize the APT.
On the Discussion

Duringthediscussion,

theworking

group

acknowledged

thesignificance of the APT as the central platform for regional cooperationin East Asia across political-security, economic, and socio-cultural
domains. The APT has successfully established a high-level mechanism
between the ten ASEAN countries and China, Japan, and Korea, while
also providing an avenue for trilateral engagement among the threenortheast Asian nations.
Furthermore, with the existence of 65 cooperative mechanisms, the APT
hasinstitutionalized

awide

rangeofcollaborations

among

governments and people in the region. Before the COVID-19 pandemic,economic, and environmental cooperation were crucial focal points for
APT stakeholders. The APT health sector was the first platform to
respond to the global crisis in January 2020 and subsequently in April
2020. The APT also formulated the Plan of Action on Mitigating theEconomic Impacts of the pandemic. Amidst the pandemic, the APT
ministers expedited relevant customs procedures to facilitate crossborder trade and collaborated on reinstating regional economic growth,
culminating in the conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) in the same year. The APT's cooperation in the4agriculture sector has yielded agreements on critical matters such as
the Strategy on Food, Agriculture, and Forestry (APTCS) in 2016, andthe APT Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) has played a vital role inaddressing emergencies in some ASEAN countries.
However, the APT faces multifaceted challenge which the working
group discussed.

Firstly, bilateral relations between ASEAN and ASEAN

Plus One countries (China, Japan, and Korea) have taken precedence
over fully utilizing the APT as a platform. Additionally, the APT has
suffered from a lack of leadership and commitment, which, even after
more than two decades of its inception, hampers its ability to respondto crises as a united and cohesive bloc.
The underlying cause of these challenges is the escalating geopolitical
rivalry among major powers at both the global and regional levels. This
rivalry has created a complex environment within the APT region andbrought significant implications for ASEAN centrality. The APT haslargely remained silent on geopolitical issues, which leaves it at risk ofbeing marginalized as a key regional framework. Further, such an
approach does not align with the APT's objective of maintaining theregion's peace, stability, and prosperity. The APT needs to express its
geopolitical concerns and ensure its relevance and visibility.
To enhance APT cooperation, the participants of the working groupmeeting identified realistic and substantive areas of collaboration torevitalize the APT's functionality, including but not limited to climatechange, energy security, tourism, food security, and the digital economy.
5Moreover, innovative ideas were proposed to address multidimensional
challenges through creative approaches such as digital agriculture,
cross-border payment systems, cybersecurity to safeguard the East
Asian cyber community, and artificial intelligence cooperation tosupport the APT's fourth industrial revolution.
To allow for the emergence of multipolar structures and alternative
cooperative mechanisms within the APT, the dominance of superpower
politics should be mitigated. Instead, greater emphasis should beplaced on enhancing cooperation and leadership among small andmiddle-power countries through a norm-based approach, rather than
one driven solely by power dynamics.

Recommendation of the Working GroupIn pursuit of revitalizing the ASEAN Plus Three, the working groupacknowledges the intersecting challenges that could impact community
building. Therefore, the working group proposes the following
recommendations:
1) Establish the East Asia Vision Group III to review ASEAN Plus
Three cooperation in general and the Work Plan 2023-2027 inparticular, as well as to recommend concrete measures anddirections for further enhancing, expanding, and deepening
ASEAN Plus Three cooperation in the future. This initiative is6

timely and crucial, considering the evolving regional and global
order since the aftermath of COVID-19.
2) Prioritize functional cooperation within the APT to address
emerging challenges to peace and prosperity, encompassing
both traditional and non-traditional security issues such as
climate change, digital transformation, cybersecurity, healthsecurity, food and energy security, supply chain disruption,
financial cooperation, preventive diplomacy, transnational crimes,and trafficking, by maximizing existing mechanisms. This should
be facilitated by the engagement of broader stakeholders,
including tracks II and III, in the APT's functional cooperation
process to make APT Framework be truly people-oriented.
3) Integrate ASEAN Plus Three economic cooperation into existingregional architectures, including the ASEAN Outlook on IndoPacific (AOIP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RCEP).
4) Enhance ASEAN centrality in the regional architecture as well as
effective coordination between ASEAN and the Trilateral
Cooperation Secretariat, and harmonize the ASEAN Plus One
initiatives with China, Japan, and Korea, which should serve asbuilding blocks towards revitalizing the APT process.

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