Just looking at the five regions of the world's largest continent reveals hostilities, upheavals, and

long-standing tensions between countries for concerns such as economic disputes, territorial
disputes, or closeness to the declared enemy. That is why, despite the idea of an Asian Union
gaining support and occasionally stepping into the stoplight, the idea of Asian regionalism,
covering and including all five regions, nevertheless has an uncertain future. Moving forward
and overcoming convoluted past appears to be impossible at the moment, especially with long-
standing hostilities resurfacing, rising conflicts in the Ocean, civil wars, and armed rebellions
such as those in Afghanistan and Myanmar are a serious hindrance. Also, many small cold
conflicts still rage in Asia, nuclear standoff- North Korea, island disputes, and terrorism in
Southeast Asia, all of which serve as stark reminders that Asian Union is highly unlikely.

With this in mind, it may appear like controlling violent conflicts in restive regions is a
possibility. However, it is vital to remember that most Asian countries place a strong emphasis
on religion, culture, and common views. Thus, in today's world, when digital media circulates
facts, ideas, and knowledge at an exponential rate, a confrontation between two religions in one
country might easily increase similar emotions in membe rs of nearby communities, which is
especially true in South and Southeast Asia.

Asian Union: Not Asia as a Whole But a Union for Some Countries

As a result, while an Asian Union across the entire continent seems doubtful, it is critical to
recognise that it is not impossible, especially in light of Singapore's interests. Since we have seen
great changes over the years, particularly in the construction of economic infrastructure, it is
worth examining whether a regional institution bringing together several Asian countries may be
supported. China's participation with ASEAN in the east could enhance the Asian Union's
chances of success while benefitting Singapore.

Singapore- What are My Interests?

● Economic Advancement
● Maintaining the image of Business Hub
● Land Reclamation

Singapore, a major financial centre in the Asia Pacific region, has long been recognised as one of
the world's most advanced economies, drawing tens of thousands of international professionals
each year. Despite its limited domestic market and lack of natural resources, the country island
city state flourishes thanks to its absence of foreign debt, high government revenue, and regularly
positive surplus. Both the Ease of Doing Business Index and the Heritage Foundation's Index of
Economic Freedom score it highly. Singapore is a stepping stone into the Asia Pacific due to its
strategic location, which explains why the country has enjoyed significant economic growth and
has even outperformed the ASEAN Market in terms of GDP growth.

Singapore's territorial expansion is inextricably tied to its economic growth, which is why the
country wants to grow at a rate of 7-8 percent by 2030. Singapore is currently reclaiming land to
physically expand core business centres, construct airports, and establish neighbourhoods for
future generations. According to a major UN Environment Programme assessment, Singapore
has long since run out of its own land and has become the world's top importer and user of sand.
However, concerned about the environmental repercussions of enormous dredging and farmers
in neighbouring nations losing land to this reclamation campaign, regional suppliers such as
Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam have placed export bans.

ASEAN- A brief History

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was created in 1967 by five Southeast
Asian countries that had recently earned independence from their previous colonial masters and
were united by a desire to live in peace and security, with Singapore as a founding member.
Years later, it is clear that Singapore has reaped the greatest benefit of all the ASEAN member
countries, and hence has a vested interest in sustaining and even expanding the organization's
scope.

ASEAN is a Surprising Success Story

Despite all of the challenges, it has evolved into one of the world's most effective and successful
regional organisations, especially given that it is Asia's only one. Southeast Asia is made up of
various sovereign states where various cultures and civilizations collide. This situation has the
potential to be unpleasant due to inevitable disagreements between varied ideologies;
nonetheless, ASEAN has provided its member states with a better negotiation platform than they
could have achieved on their own. The ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement provided a boost to
small governments dealing with a variety of difficulties. This helped them form economic
relations with other major economies including China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and
New Zealand. In addition, ASEAN currently has a predicted average annual growth rate of 5.2
percent from 2016 to 2020, following the inauguration of the ASEAN Economic Community on
December 31, 2015.

ASEAN and China: How could it be a problem for expansion of ASEAN

Southeast Asia's economic reliance on China is a major factor in the region's willingness to
follow Chinese directives. While ASEAN is well aware of its vulnerability in the face of China,
it has chosen a multi-pronged approach to meaningfully integrating China into the region's
security architecture in order to prevent direct conflicts. Furthermore, China is well-known for
wanting to impose control over any new organisation in order to further its long-term goal of
decreasing US dominance in Asia. Given the rise in violent confrontations over territory and
borders, no country is likely to endorse the idea of an Asian union, especially given the risk of it
providing a platform for further conflicts.

Given that all ASEAN members strongly support this close relations with China, most of the non
members are not fond of these close ties and are likely to be put off with this friendly approach,
thus making it as a major obstacle for ASEAN to become something akin to a Asian Union albeit
in a limited sense.

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is very different from EU

The ASEAN Economic Community aspires to make ASEAN a unified market and
manufacturing base in order to expand ASEAN's global reach as a trading bloc. The AEC is
defined by four pillars: a single market and production base, a highly competitive economic
region, an economically equal region, and a region that is completely connected with the world
economy.

When comparing the EU to other successful examples of regional integration, it's vital to
remember that both models are built on quite different societies and cope with a variety of
economic and political circumstances. Due to the diversity of ASEAN countries and their
varying levels of openness and interests, the ASEAN Economic Community has a unique
challenge in achieving regional economic integration.
ASEAN exemplifies soft regionalism because its decision-making is non-legalistic and informal.
Despite the fact that ASEAN's aversion to employing "hard" legal mechanisms has been
questioned in light of the development of cross-border trade and the region's rising reliance on
external trade and investment, no uniform laws or legal institutions have been established.
Singapore, for example, has been chastised for its land reclamation and, as an island state, has
numerous challenges as a result of climate change. However, it has yet to take any proactive
actions to protect the environment, thus any unified ASEAN environmental rules could be met
with opposition from Singapore.

What are the reasons that give Singapore an advantage over the rest of the members?

It is critical to emphasise that ASEAN's expansion should be significant enough to help not only
Singapore's financial centre, but also smaller financial markets, while still leaving enough sectors
where Singapore may be the dominating provider. As a result, Singapore is always adopting
proactive measures to attract FDI and start-ups. The large quantity of venture capital available to
it provides it an advantage in developing new financial technology that could likely dominate
finance in the future.

Notably, all ASEAN countries have a proclivity to favour national interests over regional ones.
As a result, it's improbable that it will take the form of a Union with common tariffs, currency,
and goals. Singapore is almost certain to seek to keep its position as the world's business capital.

Given the huge variation in tariff rates between ASEAN countries, securing an agreement on a
common external tariff (CET) for ASEAN in the current environment would be impossible,
especially as economies recover from the epidemic. A positive CET will also hurt Singapore's
cost competitiveness and living prices. High-income Singaporeans will be adamantly opposed to
free labour movement. In addition, Singapore has good connections with other major economic
countries and as a result is able to attract tourists and FDI.

So, while it is evident that regional organisations that allow Singapore to participate in global
trading and economic blocs are desired, any organisation that interferes with the island state's
sovereignty and relatively open economic policies will be unacceptable. The country's economy
continues to grow, and the country's loose corporate rules make doing business in Singapore
efficient and simple, making it the most popular ASEAN country. Any organisation that pushes it
to deliver shared benefits risks undermining its regional supremacy, which is undesirable.
Singapore's pro-intellectual-property posture has won it the moniker of having the finest
intellectual-property protection in Asia, and the second best in the world. It is because of
policies and offerings that are pro-business that the country has been able to maintain its
dominance in the region and will continue to further its hold in the region as the major
economic power.