Joint Statement of the 15th ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces' Informal Meeting

WE, the Chiefs of Defence Forces of Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, took part in the 15th ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces' Informal Meeting (ACDFIM), convened in Singapore on 8 March 2018;  

REAFFIRMING the shared commitment and collective responsibility of the ASEAN militaries in addressing regional security challenges, which include both traditional and non-traditional security issues;

RECOGNISING the significance and value of building capacity, trust and confidence at a pace comfortable to all through dialogue, military-to-military interaction to deepen defence cooperative ties between and amongst ASEAN defence establishments; 

NOTING with grave concern the rise of terrorism in our region and the growing sophistication of terrorists' tactics and capabilities, including in the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) domains;

EMPHASISING counter-terrorism cooperation among ASEAN militaries and with our dialogue partners of the ADMM-Plus in order to contribute to global and regional peace, security and stability;

REAFFIRMING the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in and over-flight above the South China Sea as well as the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities and avoid actions that may further complicate the situation, and pursue peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS);

LOOKING forward to discussing the development of a set of guidelines on air encounters between military aircraft to promote aviation safety;

REAFFIRMING the commitment of ASEAN Member States' militaries in our support of and participation in ADMM-Plus Expert Working Groups' exercises conducted from 2018 to 2020 to further practical cooperation:

•    Counter-Terrorism, co-hosted by Thailand and the People's Republic of China;
•    Maritime Security, co-hosted by Singapore and the Republic of Korea;
•    Peacekeeping Operations, co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia;
•    Military Medicine, co-hosted by Myanmar and India;
•    Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, co-hosted by Malaysia and the United States; 
•    Humanitarian Mine Action, co-hosted by Lao PDR and Russia; and
•    Cyber Security, co-hosted by the Philippines and New Zealand;

REAFFIRMING the intent to formalise the forum for the ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces to engage and discuss on matters pertaining to security of the region;

COMMENDING the organisation of the International Fleet Review to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN and the conduct of the first ASEAN Multilateral Naval Exercise (AMNEX) in Thailand, 2017, to strengthen mutual trust, confidence and capacity in addressing maritime issues;

COMMENDING the efforts of the ASEAN Military Analyst-to-Analyst Intelligence Exchange (AMAAIE) to develop the 365-Platform to facilitate information sharing in order to build up resilience and combat terrorism;
 
DO HEREBY DECLARE TO:

CONTINUE to strengthen defence cooperation amongst the ASEAN Member States, based on the principles of the ASEAN Charter, voluntary and non-binding contributions with assets remaining under national command and control and at a pace comfortable to all, in order to build trust, confidence and capacity in addressing regional security challenges in an effective and timely manner;

ADOPT the recommendations of the Chiefs of Military Intelligence at the 15th ASEAN Military Intelligence Informal Meeting (AMIIM) and the Chiefs of Military Operations at the 8th ASEAN Military Operations Informal Meeting (AMOIM) held in the Republic of Singapore on 6 March 2018:

1. To adopt the 11th ASEAN Militaries Two-Year Activity Work Plan of 2018-2020 of the 15th ACDFIM;
    

2. To further foster cooperation among ASEAN militaries through practical and concrete cooperative activities, upholding this year's theme of "Strengthening Cooperation, Building Resilience";

WELCOME the formalisation of the ACDFIM, where the ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces' Meeting (ACDFM) will take stock of all military interactions among ASEAN Member States for reporting to the ADMM through the ADSOM;

NOTE the "Resilience, Response, Recovery" framework, to build up the region's ability to deter and prevent terrorist attacks, coordinate ASEAN's responses to address ongoing threats, and recover from any terrorist attacks;

WORK towards the operationalisation of mechanisms to enhance ASEAN Member States' responses to natural disasters, such as the AMRG on HADR based on the principles of respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, consensus-based decision making, participation on the basis of a flexible, voluntary and non-binding nature, assets remaining under national command and control, and at a pace comfortable to all;

REITERATE the importance of the practice and observation of existing international protocols including the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), in order to enhance operational safety, and avoid undesirable incidents at sea;
 
COMMIT the ASEAN militaries' support of and participation in the inaugural ASEAN-China Maritime Exercise;

COMMEND the outcomes of the 18th ASEAN Chiefs of Armies Multilateral Meeting (ACAMM), particularly the recommendation to convene the inaugural ASEAN Armies Information Sharing Workshop (AAISW) to enhance cooperation and ASEAN Armies' ability to respond to CBRN threats;

WELCOME the Chairmanship of the Kingdom of Thailand and its hosting of the 16th ACDFIM, 16th AMIIM and 9th AMOIM in 2019;

DONE in the Republic of Singapore, on the Eighth Day of March in the Year Two Thousand and Eighteen in a single original copy of the English Language.

More Resources

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