INTEGRATION PROCESSES IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA IN THE CONTEXT OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION (2010−2020s)

The boundaries of the Indo-Pacific region are not well-established, but they are primarily maritime, which helps to determine its basic axis - the sea routes of Southeast Asia. The middle powers of the Indo-Pacific region provide a competitive model of regionalism in the long run. In June 2019, ten countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed on the prospect of expanding the geography of the region, which confirms the thesis that the Indo-Pacific region is not an alien idea for Asia. In fact, the concept gives the middle powers of Southeast Asia a central role in the region, in line with the exceptional geographic location between the Indian and Pacific oceans. The 2019 ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific is a significant document in shaping the narrative of the regional process behind the Indo-Pacific vision.
The ASEAN Common Visa project and the ways of achieving it in the 2025 horizon are a mechanism for increasing the efficiency of regional integration and catching up on lost potential in the context of the contradictions that have arisen within the APSC (ASEAN Political-Security Community), AEC (ASEAN Economic Community), ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community ( ASCC). The ASEAN Common Visa project can become a tool for the formation of a new regional identity for Southeast Asia.