The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia: The Issue of Non-Intervention and its Accession by Australia and the USA
- ↵*Faculty of Laws, University College London. Email: daniel.seah.11{at}ucl.ac.uk. I thank Professor Colin Warbrick and especially Dr Douglas Guilfoyle for their critical comments on earlier drafts. All the conclusions and errors that remain are mine. This article was completed on 1 November 2012.
Abstract
The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) is a foundational treaty by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to establish a code of conduct to govern inter-State relations in Southeast Asia. ASEAN has actively encouraged non-ASEAN States outside Southeast Asia to endorse this code of conduct by acceding to the TAC. This article examines the nature of accession by two non-ASEAN States, Australia and the USA, particularly their interpretative positions in relation to the TAC provisions on the prohibition against non-forcible intervention. It underlines the differences in which ASEAN, Australia and the USA understand the TAC's obligations. Whereas ASEAN has developed the TAC as a regional code of conduct inter se, Australia and the USA have been disinclined to accept the regional code of conduct and have made forceful attempts in their accession materials to influence the core meaning of the prohibition against non-forcible intervention.
- © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved