ASEAN Ambiguity on International Law and Norms for Cyberspace

This chapter will argue that while the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has on occasion stressed the need and its respect for a rules-based international order, and that international law applies in cyberspace, it has not spelt out how it applies to cyberspace. The ASEAN experience is unique and should be considered separately from other regional organisations. Scholars have tried to compare ASEAN and the European Union (EU) in the hope that the processes of understanding international law and conforming to norms are similar. However, unlike the European Union, where integration on rules and law are advanced and States share a common cultural heritage, a common language and face similar economic and security problems, ASEAN is a unique area where the formation of a regional grouping is based largely on mutual benefit and geography. ASEAN is a pragmatic entity that is not dogmatic on the framing of international law when it perceives a deficit of order in the international system, and does not solely subscribe to a singular interpretation of international law or to others’ views on cyberspace governance. ASEAN leaders especially place much importance on the principles of ‘mutual respect’ and ‘non-interference’, and views sovereignty as a sacrosanct principle among ASEAN member States. There is an unwillingness to define what States in the region see as sovereignty, choosing to maintain an ambiguous stance in order to achieve more flexibility in both foreign and domestic policy.