Regional cooperation through ASEAN: opening remarks by the Chairman

Abstract

Regional cooperation is often presented as the panacea for the difficulties of the newly independent and (or) small states which are attempting to provide a decent standard of living for their teeming millions in a situation of international political and economic in- equality vis-a-vis the developed nations of the world. Despite the recent emphasis on the formal equality of states, George Orwell's cynicism that in equality some can be more equal than others re- mains a painful reality.