The EU’s engagement of Myanmar in security cooperation

This chapter investigates the EU’s attempts at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to encourage Myanmar to connect with security cooperation. It centres on the EU’s messages at ARF from 2004-2008, when the EU co-chaired the meetings with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and relates to the ARF as to a framework where interactions develop. Since the dialogue and training activities in the ARF framework concerned crisis management and disaster relief, the responses from Myanmar and ASEAN to Cyclone Nargis, which ravaged Myanmar in 2008, assisted in assessing their behaviour. With the help of explanations provided by social mechanisms, an appropriateness logic and observations derived from interviews conducted in Southeast Asia and Brussels, the chapter links the EU’s policy at ARF to both ASEAN’s assumption of responsibility and Myanmar taking on multilateral security options. The chapter concludes with comments on the EU’s role and contribution to the Forum.