ASEAN Defense Chiefs Agree to New Cybersecurity
Group
thediplomat.com/2016/06/asean-defense-chiefs-agree-to-new-cybersecurity-group
By Prashanth Parameswaran
Last week, the defense chiefs of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
finally adopted a proposal by the Philippines to establish a cyber security working group
within the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus).
The ADMM-Plus – which groups the ten Southeast Asian countries along with the United
States, China, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Russia – is often
referred to as the emerging premier venue for defense and security issued in the region.
Held biennially, it is a newer, expanded version of the ADMM which has been held among
the ten ASEAN countries themselves annually since 2006.
On May 25, at the 10th ADMM meeting held in the Lao capital of Vientiane, the ASEAN
defense chiefs decided to adopt a concept paper proposed by the Philippines to establish a
cyber security working group within the ADMM-Plus. The proposal was initially floated
by outgoing Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin during the ADMM Retreat in
Kuala Lumpur last November and was also discussed during the ASEAN Defense Senior
Officials Meeting (ADSOM) Working Group (WG) meeting held in the former Lao royal
capital of Luang Prabang in February.
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