ASEAN to form cybersecurity group

Defense chiefs of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have adopted a proposal by the Philippines to establish a cyber security working group within the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM-Plus) that will promote practical cooperation in addressing cybersecurity challenges.

The ADMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN and its dialogue partners to strengthen security and defense cooperation in the region.

The proposal was made by Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin who is ending his membership with the regional defense body, owing to the assumption of a new administration next month.

Gazmin’s concept paper on the establishment of the cyber security working group within the ADMM- Plus was adopted during the 10th ASEAN defense ministers meeting held in Vientiane, Laos last May 25.

The ADMM-Plus countries include Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russian Federation and the United States, aside from ASEAN members Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The working group would be co-chaired by Manila and Australia beginning next year until 2020.

The proposal was first made last year by Gazmin during the ADMM Retreat in Malaysia.

It was “thoroughly processed within the ASEAN, culminating in the adoption of the concept paper,” according to a spokesman for the Department of National Defense (DND).

Meanwhile, as he made his exit, Gazmin submitted another proposal which would include coastguards and other maritime forces in the Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), which currently covers only naval forces.

The DND said that “ministers agreed as indicated in their issued Joint Declaration that they shall commence work on crafting protocols of interaction to avoid misunderstanding and prevent undesirable incidents in the West Philippine Sea.”

“The ministers also reiterated the importance of expeditiously working towards an early conclusion of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea,” it added.

Gazmin thanked his fellow defense ministers for welcoming him into the ADMM process when he assumed his post as DND secretary in 2010.

He also asked his fellow defense ministers to extend the same warm welcome to his replacement.