With all the Chest pumping "Regionalism" that ASEAN should be wary of China. All member states are just to different & hold different value to truly unite under a single Banner.
I understand your reservations. But we are not talking about current situation or even a situation 10 years from now. We are talking about long term goals, perhaps 2-3 decades down the line.
Also consider, how different the EU states are from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland to Ireland or from Cyprus to Portugal. But they have voluntarily chosen to be part of EU, with referendum votes. Premature introduction of common currency Euro, before more consolidation took place, caused the current crisis, but they are trying to find a way out and I am sure will succeed with ECB eventually guaranteeing all bonds originating in EU countries.
EU motto: United in diversity
Motto of the European Union - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ASEAN is already an existing regional entity and there is ongoing integration process as we speak, which I am sure you are well aware of, as Indonesia is a big part of ASEAN. What I tried to address here is a possible future vision for an expanded ASEAN that will include a few more states.
I explained in this thread why small states are always at a disadvantage when competing with large states:
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/164048-kalu_miahs-new-world-order-road-map-future.html
Because of the reasons explained above, big states always call the shots and small states have to follow. That is why USA still call the shots among Euro origin countries and that is why China will call the shots in Asia and in the world as well, later. India is big but its slow and has a lot of inertia, so its growth will take time. But even India at this stage is trying to be a regional hegemon, at least in South Asia and would like to extend its influence in nearby or other faraway regions.
I see EU as a natural effort by small states to team up, integrate and move towards creation of a larger state, even if it remains a rather loose confederation. I believe this is the wave of the future as explained here by well known academics on regional studies:
http://www.smp.fsv.cuni.cz/Hettne.pdf
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...74HwCg&usg=AFQjCNGLagsUNEAJQuO0QrRa0owL0tGk4g (this link will download a word file with the article in it, please do it at own risk, I did not encountered any virus problem after downloading and opening this file)
Essentially I see a multipolar world emerging in the future with the world coalescing into about 7 final regional entities:
1. North America + EU (NATO bloc)
2. Latin American Union (UNASUR+Mexico)
3. African Union + GCC+ (
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/180771-geopolitics-gcc-region.html ,
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/180774-geopolitics-african-union.html )
4. Eurasia+ (Eurasian Union or former Soviet Union + Turkey + Iran + Pakistan + Afghanistan + Mongolia) (
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/180767-geopolitics-eurasia-region.html )
5. ASEAN+
6. China
7. India
Why people would choose these routes, because just like EU and NATO, people will try to maximize their power and influence by joining a bigger team when such option is made available to them.