Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the way in which countries manage or conduct relations with one another. Its main aim is to promote common interests and to resolve conflicting interests.

Singapore participation One of Singapore’s contributions to ASEAN is the ASEAN Agreement on

Transboundary Haze Pollution. It is an agreement to reduce haze pollution in Southeast Asia. The agreement is a reaction to an environmental crisis that hit Southeast Asia in the late 1990s. The crisis was mainly caused by land clearing via open burning in the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Satellite images confirmed the presence of hot spots throughout Borneo, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and several other places. Malaysia, Singapore and to a certain extent, Thailand and Brunei were particularly badly affected.

Singapore’s participation Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok

Tong also launched the Initiative for ASEAN Integration to help narrow the economic gap between member countries. Singapore offered a five-year aid package of over $80 million to countries between 2000 to 2003.

Singapore’s participation Lastly, is the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), which is a

trade bloc agreement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations supporting local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries. The AFTA agreement was signed on 28 January 1992 in Singapore.

The primary goals of AFTA seek to: * Increase ASEAN's competitive edge as a production

base in the world market through the elimination, within ASEAN, of tariffs and non-tariff barriers; and

* Attract more foreign direct investment to ASEAN.

Benefits

Through joining and setting up ASEAN, Singapore could now express her thoughts to other countries.

This strengthen Singapore’s position when negotiating with other greater powers.

Singapore could now discuss and resolve conflicts peacefully with other neighboring countries.

Benefits

ASEAN has enabled Singapore to forge better relations with neighbouring countries.

Neighboring countries could now help Singapore in times of need as Singapore has provided aid to others while they are in need of help.

Is it more beneficial?(International Relationship)

As compared with Regional Relationship, International Relationship would be more difficult to manage as it is the participation of countries around the world which would take a longer time for them to reach and help.

For Regional, it is only the participation of countries in a specific region so it would be easier to manage and help would be delivered or received more efficiently.

Is it more beneficial?(Bilateral Relationship)

For bilateral, many relations have to be formed to be strong as it only involves two countries. however, for regional, it is diplomatic relations within a group of countries so it is more efficient.

Similarly, compared to bilateral relationship, regional relalations is a much more beneficial form of diplomacy as when two countries face the same problem the trouble will only tend to grow.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we think that the most beneficial form of diplomacy as it is to form strong ties with our neighbours, who can turn up to help us almost instantaneously, also, we have similar cultures and hence understand each other better, enchancing our coorperation and is hence most beneficial.