History At its Ninth Summit in october 2003 the Association ofSouth East Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced its intention to create an ASEAN Community based upon three pillars: ASEAN Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and an ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. A year later ASEAN established the Vientiane Action Programme to realise this goal. The process of ASEAN community building is a result of the considerable change in the association's mission in the recent two decades, The end of the Cold War, the advance of globalisation, the rise of China and India in economic size and political influence as well as the Asian financial crisis have forced ASEAN to shif from its original preventive diplomacy of maintaining peace and harmony among its members and in the region to the constructive diplomacy of community building lo cope with increasing political and economic competition in a globalised world. In more details, one of the motit notable threats to ASEAN members is China, whose robust economy is in direct competition with those of its Southeast Asian neighbours, especially in trade and foreign direct investment. Meanwhile, in recent years, the sleeping dragon has also tried to enhance its economic and political influence and presence in the region, particularly in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. This important change has increasingly drawn ASEAN states, which share the common intrusive outside powers, into the long-term strategic competition between the fear United States and China in Asia Pacific. In order to cope with China and avoid external