Q1. Could you briefly introduce yourself to JejuTube viewers?

Hello, my name is Dewi Fortuna Anwar and I’m a research professor at the Center for Political Studies, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, based in Jakarta.

Q2. The Southeast Asian region has made progress on faster cross-border transactions. Currently, five ASEAN countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – have linked to the ASEAN Single Window, an online platform for faster customs clearance through electronic exchange of trade documents. Southeast Asia’s expanding digital economy in areas such as online retail and ride-hailing services is pushing the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to harmonize their policies and rules. What are your suggestions to facilitate South Korea’s participation in the ASEAN digital economy?

Well, ASEAN is expanding very fast particularly in this new economy, the digital economy. With Singapore as the current chief, ASEAN is in fact focusing on expanding the cooperation of ASEAN digital economy. But we also know that ASEAN is very big and very diverse. Economically, ASEAN is divided into three different types of countries. There are very developed ASEAN members like Singapore, and the developed ones but still lagging behind like Malaysia or Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand. But there are similar countries, and they’re Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam which are in the third level. So, the idea of developing digital economy should try to reduce the development gap between the three different types of economic groupings. And, here South Korea can play a role both in trying to assist in developing the digital platform, because after all, South Korea is very advanced in ICT industries.

And secondly in the contents, we may have the platform. But what actually we are going to do with it? And South Korea is very innovative. I know, it’s very advanced in this creative economy. So there are many, many ways in which South Korea can assist different countries, particularly the less developed members of ASEAN.

Q3. Last year, President Moon Jae-in announced the New Southern Policy. Under this policy direction, Korea is looking beyond Northeast Asia to deepen bonds of cooperation with ASEAN and beyond. By forging a mutually beneficial partnership, the policy’s ultimate goal is to contribute to an even better quality of life for the peoples of both ASEAN and Korea – and in so doing fostering a peaceful community of prosperity. What are your suggestions to increase Korea-ASEAN political, economic and socio-cultural cooperation in the future, which will constitute key parts of South Korea’s New Southern Policy?

I really welcome the new southern policy of South Korea, which tries to broaden the thrust of Korean engagement with South Asia with ASEAN beyond the economic domain. South Korea’s engagement with Southeast Asia has been ongoing since Korea became a dialogue partner of ASEAN, and also of individual ASEAN member states. Korea is the one of the largest investors, for example, in Indonesia. The manufacturing industries in Indonesia benefits very much from South Korean investment. South Korea has also been very active in promoting its industrial products. Samsung is very popular, and LG, all the products from South Korea, Hyundai and so on are household names. Also pop culture from South Korea.

But there have been a lot of criticism about South Korea engagement, nonetheless, from my own country, for example, from Indonesia. There have been lots of problems with a South Korean manufacturing investment. There have been labor disputes and poor communication between Korean businesses with the local communities as well as the local labor. So it is very important that South Korea is not simply seen as an economic animal. You know it is culturally sensitive that it is able to engage in various other sectors.

Therefore, the new southern policy, which aims to be much more appropriate, covering all three pillars of ASEAN cooperation: political security, economic, social, cultural. I think it’s very timely and very relevant. The most important thing is to follow through, of course, and to make sure that the different pillars do not develop in isolation from the other pillars because, as I said, economic activities should be backed also by greater social, cultural understanding of the local cultures. And there should be more two-way engagements.

So it’s not just Korea exporting one way its pop culture, but it should also be much more open to, you know, inputs from different countries in Southeast Asia. And we would like to encourage also more intellectual exchanges, you know, from the both sides.

Q4. The confrontation between two major powers, the US and China, has aggravated regional peace and security. How do you evaluate the current status of the US-China relationship and its influence in Asia, in particular in terms of the evolving of China’s “Belt and Road Initiatives” and US-proposed “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy?

I think we have to live with the fact that the United States and China are the two most powerful countries in the world now, particularly in our part of the world. These are the two most relevant powers and the state relations between Washington and Beijing will affect the lives of our entire region. We’re, of course, very concerned that the current US-China rivalry could escalate into more serious tension. You know especially the trade war between Washington and Beijing is having a very negative impact on our whole regional economy. And also, if there’s a spillover of tension into other areas, it would force our region, ASEAN countries and South Korea also to choose between the two, which we do not want. I think ASEAN and South Korea are in the same position. We would like to benefit from both countries. We would like to have good relations with both Washington and Beijing on their own merits, regardless of the state of relations between the two countries. We believe that China is important and we need to have good relations with China. We like to be able to benefit from everything that China has to offer including OBOR (One Belt, One Road) Initiative. And the same goes with the US. The US remains a very important security partner as well as a very important market for our exports.

So we do not want to see the confrontation between these two countries. So ASEAN and South Korea should continue to be actively engaged with these two superpowers and to try to convince both of them of the importance of having steady and more predictable relationships. For the US current strategy of Free and Open Indo-Pacific in principle, I think, ASEAN countries support the policy that is based on the international law, and our Free and Open Indo-Pacific should adhere to international laws, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) since 1982. It should respect every aspect of UNCLOS, the US is not a signatory of UNCLOS, but, I think, it has respected UNCLOS since 1982. And we would continue, you know, to expect the US to continue to support international law, and we also expect China which is a party to UNCLOS 1982 to respect UNCLOS 1982 in all its entirety, not to beive in it. So you know, our hope is that the region remains peaceful because a peaceful region ensures our continued prosperity.

Q5. Building conditions for peace in the Korean peninsula have been in full swing since the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration. With North Korea’s participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics serving as the momentum for two Panmunjom inter-Korean Summits, North Korea-China Summit and US-North Korea Summit, the North has been pushing forward for negotiations with the US to exchange its denuclearization for regime security guarantee. Now appears to be a timely moment for ASEAN member states to put in a “concerted effort” in close coordination with South Korea in order to contribute to the denuclearization of North Korea and tension reduction on the Korean Peninsula. What do you think is the most important roles that ASEAN nations should play?

Well, ASEAN is there before all the other countries have played a role in trying to draw North Korea into various regional dialogues. Don’t forget that ASEAN Regional Forum which was established in 1994 is the only regional mechanism in which North Korea is a full member. So ASEAN has always been very open to engaging with North Korea. And I think that we should push for more of this. So the ASEAN Regional Forum should be revitalized and North Korean participation should be encouraged further. I would also argue that South and North Korea should be invited to participate in all the three pillars of the ASEAN cooperation, the political security pillar besides the ASEAN Regional Forum. Maybe, different officials from North Korea should be invited to participate in the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus), so that they can talk directly to their counterparts from ASEAN countries and the dialogue partner countries.

Maybe, North Korea could also be invited to become a sectoral dialogue panel of ASEAN so that they can participate in various economic activities in which they feel comfortable with. They should also be encouraged to take part in social, cultural activities. The important thing is that the ASEAN can provide the forum. ASEAN can be active in promoting confidence-building measures to build trust in North Korea so that they can live in peace with their neighboring countries, that they could engage in productive cooperation with neighboring countries, so that they feel secure and therefore there is no need for them to own nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction. Because in fact, instead of promoting their own security possession of WMD actually increases insecurity because it creates distrust, it creates fear in the neighboring countries. They should look at how ASEAN has managed its security. Southeast hasd itself to be nuclear weapons free zone. Many Southeast Asian countries have conflicts with each other. Remember, you know, Vietnam, which was a communist, you know, did not get on well with the non-communist ASEAN countries. Indonesia and Malaysia used to have confrontation with each other, but now we’re living in peace with each other through promoting real, substantive cooperation in different areas.

And there is no need, ASEAN countries do not feel the need to have possessions of weapons beyond reasonable means. Of course, you know, each country has military establishments but we do not see the development of arms race within Southeast Asia, which is really threatening to each other. And certainly we do not believe that possessions of nuclear weapons would enhance our security. Therefore, in fact we believe that no country should have nuclear weapons. That is why Southeast Asia has developed the nuclear weapon-free zone and we can encourage North Korea to look also at how ASEAN has managed relations between the very diverse members. We have Laos and Vietnam, which were former adversaries of the non-communist countries. And this talks to communist countries among full members of ASEAN and active participants of the ASEAN economic community – they have remained politically as communist dominated single party regimes, but their economy is open and they have benefited from engagement with ASEAN. So, ASEAN can help to reassure North Korea that it could develop into a normal country.

Q6. How will multilateral talks such as the Jeju Forum contribute to promoting peace better? What direction do you think the Jeju Forum should take in the future?

Well, I’m a strong believer that talks, talks, talks are, you know, better than not to have dialogues. The Jeju Forum, forums like Jeju, first it provides comfortable meeting points for different stakeholders to exchange different views. So friends, of course, can exchange views all the times but even more importantly those who do not share our views can also express themselves and we can all listen to them. This is a part of CBMs, confidence-building measures.

Secondly, forums like Jeju Forum can assist official policymakers in finding alternative solutions, because here people can talk in their private capacities also. So we can think about innovative ways of promoting peace and security, which may not always be possible within the bureaucratic official settings where officials are bound by their positions. So thinking out of the box is very important.

And thirdly, I would argue that increasingly international peace and security and prosperity are linked also with issues like environment, gender, food security, energy security and so on. So a lot of non-traditional securities are becoming mainstream. So clearly, we need to be under the digital economy, cyber security, you know, these are some of the new issues that we need to address. So forums like Jeju Forum will be the way we can start to discuss all the new challenges, and as I said, you know, having a comfortable place where everybody feels welcome.

Q7. What do you think is an effective measure with regard to the role of think tanks and their contribution and operation to promote peace?

Think tanks play a very important role because they continue to think, hopefully, and they don’t have tanks, yeah (laugh). So, they continue to think to do research which governments have no time to do. So, you know, you have all of this pool of expertise within think tanks. And their outputs are more policy oriented. This is a difference between think tanks and, say, research centers in universities, or more conventional research institutions. Think tanks always try to be more relevant to policy makers, so the think tank community plays a very important role in track two process and track one process. They should be the go-to place for policy makers from all sectors, you know, of life if we need solutions. We should be able to draw on the expertise from think tanks.

Q8. Any last words to JejuTube viewers?

Well, firstly, I think the Jeju Island is very beautiful. It has a very pleasant climate and Jeju itself is a special place in South Korea. It is a very open place. You don’t need a visa to come here and you know, it is very international. It’s making a very, very important contribution to regional peace and security and prosperity by having the Jeju Peace Institute here and by convening this annual Jeju Forum for peace and prosperity as well as the various activities that the Jeju Peace Institute organizes throughout the year. So, I hope that both the Jeju people who support the activities of the Jeju Peace Institute will continue to prosper and will continue to contribute to our dynamic region.