ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses some issues--significant similarities and differences in ASEAN perceptions of external threats and the nature of the perceived internal threats. Some of the most important leaders in every ASEAN state harbor long-range fears of a powerful China. Every ASEAN state is concerned about the longterm intentions of the USSR. Malaysia is likely to cite the threat of a Russian buildup in the ASEAN region as evidence that every major power seeks to dominate Southeast Asia, thus emphasizing the need for Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality and strengthening the argument for its acceptance. In several ASEAN states the danger of Japan becoming an exporter of weapons has been brought up, and fears have been expressed in both economic and political terms. Many ASEAN policy makers also regard as a threat the unpredictability and discontinuities of American foreign policy produced by the four-year election cycles and the almost-continuous campaigning that accompanies them.
