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The bilateral relations between Indonesia and Vietnam have long been problematic due to the unresolved maritime borders surrounding the North Natuna Sea. Despite having a long history of cooperation in multilateral forums such as ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the increasing occurrence of IUUF (illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing) in the North Natuna Sea continues to raise concerns in Jakarta about vessels of different countries, including Vietnamese-flagged vessels. Taking an example, this study evaluates the maritime diplomatic strategies of the President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) administration against the encroachment of Vietnam fishing boats which entered Indonesian waters in the North Natuna Sea between 2020-2021 with reference to the response of 1) Indonesia's navy; (2) the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency, and (3) Indonesian Police or Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. Although there have been hundreds of incidents, five analytical cases were evaluated in this paper based upon their maritime diplomatic properties to understand Indonesia's contemporary strategy toward such encroachments. Using Le Mière's five framework points, the study argues that Indonesia's maritime diplomatic strategies against Vietnam's IUUF exhibited 1) a kinetic effect; 2) consistency; 3) message explicitness; 4) reactive diplomacy; and 5) lack of power balance among stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the shift in Philippine policy on China under the Duterte Administration from appeasement to soft balancing. After his election in mid-2016, President Rodrigo Duterte adopted an appeasement policy vis-à-vis China's expansive territorial claim in the South China Sea. However, China has not fulfilled its end of the bargain. It failed to inject public investment into the Philippines' massive infrastructure-building program, and to moderate the behavior of its military units operating in the South China Sea. This has prompted the Duterte Administration to adopt a policy of soft balancing. It pursues this policy by (a) hedging on its alliance with the U.S.; (b) fostering a security partnership with Japan; and (c) pushing for the immediate passage of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-China Code of Conduct (CoC) of the Parties in the South China Sea. In conclusion, this paper argues that the Duterte Administration's current objective is to restrain Chinese aggressive behavior in the South China Sea by maintaining its alliance with the U.S., fostering a security partnership with Japan, and playing a more active role in the ASEAN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nature of cohesive patterns of roll call voting behavior across international issues among the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Existing studies reveal a high level of foreign policy convergence among these countries. By incorporating several international issues, we set out to advance the scholarly understanding of the ASEAN states' voting convergence in the UNGA. Our bill-level analysis of voting similarity in the post-Cold War period shows that the respective voting patterns vary across issues on arms control and disarmament, colonialism, economic development, human rights, nuclear weapons and nuclear material, as well as the Palestinian conflict. These findings highlight the ideas and interests of Southeast Asian countries across different foreign policy contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is considered to be one of the most important forces of economic growth and globalization. Many ASEAN economies have only a small domestic market; they are heavily reliant on international trade and FDI. Recent studies on cross-border investment indicate the importance of domestic economic performance and institutional effectiveness (including government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and property rights protection) in attracting FDI. The result from a cross-national empirical analysis, in this study, also confirms the significant impact of macroeconomic performance and institutional factors on FDI flows into developing countries. In this paper, it is argued that, with the exception of Singapore, most ASEAN countries are afflicted with relatively poor institutions for good governance, with low government effectiveness, and poor regulatory quality and rule of law. This relatively poor institutional quality may exacerbate the effects of external threats. As higher economic growth and better economic integration in other regions may divert FDI flows into ASEAN countries, their appropriate response is to improve institutional quality so that the share of FDI will increase in the total FDI inflows. Improving the institutional environment among ASEAN member countries should, therefore, be an important goal of ASEAN economic integration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]