Could ASEAN be an economic and political counterbalance to rising china in the region?

National security is one of the most critical elements for the society, economy and the political system of a given country. Especially, it is unconditionally important for the stability, sustainability and prosperity of national development. Moreover, it is also unconditionally the top priority for all ASEAN countries that have to cope with the continually rising China in all aspects of development of the Asia-Pacific region. The present article is using case study analysis and comparative empirical analysis as a research methodology to investigate and find out the right answer to the question ex-posed in its title. The article approaches and treats security and military science as interdisciplinary area of contemporary research. At the same time they are considered as one of the branches of social science. In the beginning of 21 st century, the economic relations as well as the geo-political relations between China and ASEAN have made many progresses and positive changes towards right direction, in line with common principles of peaceful and secured development in the region. However, this current relationship still shows many difficulties and obstacles that the two sides need to solve and overcome in order to benefit from the existing potentials of each other. The first aim of this present article is to focus on overall complex relationship between ASEAN and China that could pose real threat and danger to the ASEAN nations in terms of its inability to counterbalance the rising China in the Asia Pacific region. The second aim of the article is to propose some useful recommendations and viable solutions to guard the safety of the people, security in the society and economy, the political existence of the ASEAN bloc.

growth of ASEAN is expected to accelerate. According to an investment report released by ASEAN in November 2015, total foreign direct investment (FDI) attracted by all ASEAN countries has increased for three consecutive years, making it the largest destination for FDI amongst developing countries in the region, creating new opportunities to develop China-ASEAN economic and trade relations. China's economy has grown rapidly since economic reforms and open door policy started in 1979. The entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November 2001 marked another stage of China's economic reform and opening up to the world, making further improvements in its economic efficiency and competitiveness. The China's economic scale, dynamic growth and WTO accession are having significant effect on the ASEAN economies and beyond. ASEAN's response to China's rising economy is mixed. Although China's prosperity and global integration are good for and strongly welcome by the region, and China will provide a large and rapidly growing market for ASEAN, especially for the natural resource-based products, ASEAN perceives a threat that arises from China's ability to enter their market with constantly growing range of manufacturers. China's huge and cheap labor force along with its cost competitiveness can undermine ASEAN's market share in its main world markets such as US, EU, Japan and threaten domestic market of ASEAN industries. Moreover, China's cost competitiveness and rapidly growing domestic market may divert FDI flows from ASEAN. According to Prof. Liu Ying of the Chongqing Institute of Financial Studies at the People's University of China, at the beginning of 50th anniversary of ASEAN's founding, the relationship between China and ASEAN had grown into a strongest and most vibrant partnership in the world, in which economic, trade and investment relations between them are constantly growing 1 . With its importance, ASEAN has become a geopolitical space as well as China's major economic counterpart. Two-way investment between China and ASEAN started from low level but took place strongly. ASEAN countries are increasingly becoming the major FDI destination for Chinese enterprises with the number and scale of investment projects and industrial parks constantly expanding, shifting from the traditional industrial processing to new areas such as currency service, e-commerce, cultural exchange and entertainment. In 2013, China has invested $ 8.64 billion in ASEAN countries, up 7.1% compared to last year. As of June 2014, China-ASEAN two-way investment reached nearly $ 120 billion, of which the total investment of ASEAN coun-tries in China reached over $ 80 billion, the total investment of China in ASEAN was nearly $ 40 billion. In 2013, Singapore became China' s largest ASEAN investor 2 . The relationship between China and ASEAN has grown tremendously; the political trust between the two sides has been constantly strengthened and has achieved substantial successes in mutual cooperation in all fields. ASEAN is China's third largest trading partner, while China is the first country to establish free trade area (FTA) with ASEAN and has been the largest trading partner of ASEAN since 2009. China and ASEAN promote mutually beneficial economic cooperation. China and ASEAN have established strategic partnership as a platform for the economic, trade and investment cooperation, contributing to making relationship between China and ASEAN one of the successful cooperation models between ASEAN and its strategic partners. In the China-ASEAN relationship, along advantages brought about by the general context and dynamic economic development, in the political and security landscape there are found many uncertainties. The relationship between China and ASEAN still faces some difficulties, especially the disagreement between China and some of ASEAN countries in the South China Sea. The trade deficit between ASEAN countries and China continues to increase. Due to the full effect of the ACFTA in 2010, trade volume between ASEAN and China has shifted from a surplus to a deficit of $ 45 billion in 2013. In particular, manufactured goods, especially machinery and electronics, are still dominant in the bilateral trade. FDI from China has yet to play an important role in ASEAN and FDI flow from China to ASEAN is still low compared to China's total FDI outflows. According to data from the China Ministry of Commerce, China contributes 2.3% of total FDI received by ASEAN and China's FDI outflows to ASEAN account for only 6.7% ($ 35.7 billion) of total FDI outflows of China in 2013 2 . The economic cooperation between ASEAN and China, although developing rapidly since the Cold War, will be unsustainable if not being based on political security to address the key challenges in this partnership.

NATIONAL SECURITY'S THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
According to contemporary dictionaries, most often, security is defined as a state of certainty of an individual, a group of individuals or a whole nation to counter the crisis situation. Security is usually seen as a freedom from or resilience against potential harm (or other unwanted change) from external forces. Beneficiaries of security may be persons and social groups, objects and institutions, ecosystems, and any other entity or phenomenon vulnerable to unwanted change by its environment. Security mostly refers to protection from hostile forces, but it has a wide range of other senses, for example, it could be understood as: the absence of harm; the presence of essential goods (energy security), the resilience against potential damage; the secrecy and privacy; and finally, a state of mind (emotional security) 4 . The most general definition of security is provided by the Dictionary of Social Sciences issued by UNESCO in which according to Daniel Lerner, in the most literal sense, security is virtually identical with certainty (safety) and it means no physical threat (or danger) or full protection against it 5 . Oftentimes, in various studies in the field of social sciences, security is presented as the ability to survive, independence, identity or certainty of development. In security analyses, the occurrence of two negative phenomena, that are challenge and threat, is considered. Challenges are understood as the emergence of new situations in which there are urgent needs requiring the formulation of responses and taking appropriate measures to ensure a certain state of security. They can turn into threats, the real dangers to the security. Threats can be a reflection of the real state of affairs or exaggerated ideas. They may refer to the assessment of a certain state at a specific historical moment (current threat) or refer to an extrapolation of anticipated developments and accompanying adverse, unwanted changes (potential threats) 6 . According to Swiss scholar Daniel Frei, the state of security only occurs when there is no real threat (objective factor) and no sense of threat (subjective factor) 7 . According to Morton Berkowitz, national security can be the most suitably defined as its ability to protect its internal values against external threats. Ensuring acceptable level of national security is one of the main functions of government and each country has its own national security (management) system and national security strategy [8][9][10][11] . The proper functioning of national security system including law enforcement services, training and research institutes, rescues services responsible for security and (local) government bodies involved in such activities, depends to a large extent on their interdependency and their proper exchange of information 12 . National security remains closely related to international security, which can be considered both at the regional and global level. United Nations experts in the study on the concept of security have defined international security as a state in which nations believe that they are not threatened by military attack, pressure or economic compulsion (sanction), and are therefore capable of freedom of development and progress. They further argue that international security is the result and the sum of security of each and all countries, the members of the international community. Accordingly, international security cannot be provided without a full international cooperation between countries and involvement of international organizations and individual citizens 13 . There is no doubt, therefore, that security is the supreme need of people and social groups and at the same time the most important goal 14 . It aims to satisfy the most important needs of survival, stability, sustainability and predictability of development, wellbeing and finally human happiness. Multan claims that security can be defined not only as a specific goal, but also as a succession. This means that we are not aware of what it is until we are threatened by its loss 15 . It is assumed that national security consists of relations and links between all of its constituent elements 16 . A common feature of most security definitions is to describe it as a process. Security is not a given state of affairs but a continuous social process in which operating entities try to improve the mechanisms that ensure their sense of security. All components of this process, more or less measurable, having the character of both dependent and independent variables, are subject to numerous changes conditioned by the internal situation of a nation, its regional and international situation 17,18 . Globalization shapes processes that take place in all spheres of human activity, including economy and security. Economy and security are areas of basic importance for human functioning in the contemporary world, mutually penetrating and dependent on each other. Security and the idea of partnership for peace are one of many aspects and it is treated as a guarantor of sustainable competitiveness of enterprises and sustainable development of all economies [19][20][21] . Globalization is not a new phenomenon, but it has gained significance only thanks to the development of technology, which enabled the exchange of information in real time and the movement of people and goods globally in a short time. It means an extensive network of economic and informational connections connecting different parts of the world 22 . Globalization is inextricably linked to the development of humanity. In pursuit of development, faster communication, better technologies, man has managed to minimize the differences between societies of different countries, at the same time created common ground for mutual cultural exchange. The globalization process cannot be reversed, we are surrounded by it, and we live with it. Although the globalization process has been going on for several centuries, it has been particularly intense in recent years. Governmental institutions that are responsible for ensuring security should be able to limit the negative effects of globalization on social and economic spheres. It is necessary to take action to ensure social and economic security not only at the national level, but also at international and supranational level. Governments conclude agreements on economic cooperation, join military and economic alliances. It is in these agreements and alliances that clauses on mutual cooperation in the field of security are included. Because globalization is a transnational phenomenon, security activities also have transnational features. Globalization means a process of growing interconnectedness between societies leading to events in one part of the world increasingly affecting people and societies in remote locations 23 . Globalization is multidimensional and asymmetrical. Multi-dimensionality consists in including various spheres of human activity in these processes: political, economic, social, technological, cultural, ecology and security issues which are closely related to each other and affect each other 24 . Asymmetry depends on a different rate of change in individual fields and on the emergence of opposite benefits and phenomena, e.g. qualified immigrants accelerate the development of the host country, at the same time weaken the development of the country of origin, environmentally burdensome production releases the country of origin from it, but accelerates the degradation of the country to which it has been moved; taxes of transnational enterprises are paid in the home country 25 . The most important economic benefits for many countries due to globalization include the inflow of foreign capital (FDI), access to information, modern technologies, expanding the market offer of products, increasing the pressure for modernization and increasing the efficiency of economic activity, return on investment, creating new jobs, boosting exports, participation in the international division of labor, economic growth, raising the standard of living, civilization advancement. Globalization forces many companies to become more competitive and can be a way to develop poorly developed countries as it can fuel social, political and economic changes 26 . In the socio-cultural sphere, the main benefits of globalization processes are: increasing access to diversified cultural offer, growing intercultural exchange, openness to cultural diversity, awareness of its sensitivity, blurring the boundaries between what is national and what is foreign, creating similar cultural products in different societies, strengthening its both orientation towards standardization and orientation towards customization 27 . At the same time, these processes have a positive effect on intercultural communication, the opportunity to get to know each other better and understand different customs. Positive consequences of globalization in the political sphere are: dissemination of democratic institutions and procedures, gradual universalization of human rights, unification of international collaboration, cooperation and peaceful settlement of disputes, growing formalization and institutionalization of international relations, striving for regional and international integration, strengthening and empowering communities, greater access to various sources of information, greater opportunities to publicize their own problems and interests, bigger influence on power, self-organization thanks to modern means of communication and the dispersal of power 28 . As stated above, ensuring security is one of main functions of government and in that area one has to deal with a wide range of threats and challenges constituting real concerns for the whole society, especially for social groups and individuals 9,29 . Security issues researched in literature and practices are presented as multidimensional problems of multiple levels 30 . Security issues should not be confined to economic, social, energy and environmental aspects and their interaction 31 . Additionally, security research is generally presented as a problem of two levels. First level is focused on individuals and social groups while the second level deals with the security issues in a national level. Research on both levels, however, is very often concentrated on the life or health threat in direct connection with conventional war conflicts, terrorism, organized crime, political or social persecution and natural disasters. Nevertheless, such understanding security does not comply with the present reality. There exists a wide range of scientific studies proving that the present understanding of security consists of several dimensions which might not be directly linked to actual traditional war activities. The human security in a broad sense could be jeopardized also by unfair economic, trade and social practices or abuse of political power by governmental bodies, corruption scandals in national economies, and discrimination of minorities or ethnic groups, drugs trafficking and black markets 32 . In last few decades, the understanding of security has been changing. New areas emerged which may influence security facets, which were not urgent earlier. Now those facets can endanger individual persons or even nations. Breaches of cyber security, separatist attacks or intense cyber wars are becoming more usual than conventional wars in physical space. Violations of cyber security may cause great damage, ruin businesses or even temporarily paralyze full-fledged functioning of individual countries or regions 33 . Table 1 presents the most important issues of security that could impact all of us, enterprises and organizations, government and society, groups and individual citizens, regardless of the nationality. These security issues well researched in the literature of military science and divided clearly into two main categories (unconventional and conventional) at international and regional level (i.e. for ASEAN bloc as a whole) ( Table 1) could be, for the needs of national security analysis, adopt ed (regrouped) into other categories (external and internal) ( Table 2) at the national level (i.e. for each of ASEAN's economies and societies). External security issues, in contrary to internal ones, mean that they are out of the reach and full control of the government of single country. Thus, regional cooperation is needed and intergovernmental mechanisms should be formed to find measures to cope with them.

METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH
The security science is seen as much broader than military science as it includes also non-military issues of the international, regional, supranational, national security and individual safety. Security science is an independent and original research discipline that strives to obtain a comprehensive, coherent panorama (multi-aspect, multi-dimensional, multi-perspective) of the reality from point of view of satisfying individual and collective need for security. The development of methodology for research in security science is just both separate and, as well, being at the intersection of other well-rounded sciences, such as political science, psychology or sociology. Security science in the classification of sciences is a scientific discipline that belongs to the field of social sciences. Moreover, due to the specific objects, subjects and methods of research, and also due to the type of research statements (hypotheses) formulated and practical directives, security science is considered as an interdisciplinary science. We are assuming a fairly obvious statement that scientific methods appropriate for security science are, among st those very popular in the social sciences, methods of empirical research and comparative analysis. These method s need a verification of research hypotheses or require searching for answers to the research questions formulated by scholars 34 . As a result, many scientific papers are empirically investigating security issues and concerns, typical for the economic and military powerhouses in the world. Those security issues are divided into two afore mentioned groups: conventional and unconventional. In contemporary world, we are observing the rise in importance of unconventional security issues, their scope and range need to be paid more attention. Nonetheless, it doesn't mean that the conventional security issues are decreasing in their importance and become less influential. For diminutive countries that are less influential and less paid attention by the world, at least at the moment, such as many of the ASEAN states, the impact and the significance of unconventional security issues are less obvious and the division of security issues into such category might be unjustified. In case of those countries, the division of security issues into internal and external ones seems to be convincing and as such we are observing the rise in importance of internal security issues, their frequency and intensity rather than the external security issues originating from outside as a result of a political game of superpowers both in the region and across the globe. However, f or the ASEAN bloc as a whole, the balance between the impact, the significance of un-conventional and conventional security issues should be preserved and paid appropriate attention as ASEAN always wish to be a key regional player and to counterbalance rising China in global stage. Having that in mind, in this present article we relate to the ASEAN's unique historical and geo-political context in order to draw comprehensive implications and propose some viable solutions for ensuring safety of the people, security in the society and political existence of the bloc, contributing to the overall global security and stability in the region due to its geo-strategic, geo -political and geo-military position. We carry out comparative studies between ASEAN and China based on sound theoretical framework encompassing selected security issues and security concerns in respect of two suggestively proposed interrelated dimensions 25,[35][36][37] : macroeconomic security (including mainly foreign trade and investment relations) and existential (to be or not to be) security (including geo-strategic, geo-political, geo-military position and identity). The security issues considered under such dimensions always come together, strictly determine each other and, of course, will certainly pose real big challenges for ASEAN. Consequently, if those security issues and concerns are not solved and  dealt properly and, especially in a close, interactive relation with each other, they could hinder the whole process of ongoing integration, consolidation and development of ASEAN in order to counterbalance rising China in global and regional stage, in a pursuit and defense of its core, undisputed interests. Those security issues, both in macroeconomic and existential terms are the basis for the ASEAN-China comparative study to find out disadvantages and advantage s of ASEAN (in relation to China) in each of detailed aspects of mentioned security issues. The result of carried out comparative study is served to find out an answer to the question introduced in the title of this article: "Could ASEAN be an economic and political counterbalance to rising China in the region?"

Comparing ASEAN and China in the Macroeconomic Aspect of Security Issues
There is a real concern that ASEAN countries are increasingly reliant on Chinese economy and China

Comparing ASEAN and China in the Existential Aspect of Security Issues
At present, China and ASEAN countries are committed to maintaining a peaceful and stable environment to focus on mutual economic development. However, the current burning issue is South China Sea disputes, a major obstacle in strengthening cooperation between China and ASEAN. China's threat for ASEAN countries still exists, as China is constantly increasing its activities in sovereignty disputes, building illegal artificial islands in the South China Sea, boosting defense expenditure to upgrade and modernize military capability, especially the navy force. All of that have caused deep concern for all countries in the Asia Pacific region and for the international community as well. Situated in the Asia-Pacific, ASEAN is the most geo-politically, geo-strategically and geo-militarily sensitive region of the world. As Myanmar has successfully ended decades of isolation, ASEAN's policy of attracting Myanmar has been criticized by the West, but it has helped lay the groundwork for a peaceful transition from military regime to a full democracy. Comparing with the West' s isolation policy in Syria, it certainly does not lead to the same result. Certainly, ASEAN is not perfect. In short, it looks like ASEAN is moving in crab's style, two steps forward, one step back and one step across. But we cannot deny ASEAN 's long-term progress in preserving its regional interest. Currently, ASEAN is the only credible platform for geopolitical engagement in the Asia-Pacific region. ASEAN is also unique in its ability to convene meetings involving all the world powers, from US and European Union (EU) to China and Russia ASEAN has become an important factor in building and maintaining political stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region. ASEAN is at the center of connecting and reconciling conflicts, promoting cooperation for peace, stability and development in the Asia-Pacific region 50 . The new slogan in China's foreign policy "building a community of common destiny" must start in Southeast Asia. If China succeeds in this, they will once again prove the global viability of the Chinese model 51 . ASEAN political thought is based on the aforementioned ASEAN Political Security Community (APSC), one of three pillars of ASEAN Community, to elevate political and security cooperation to a new height, with the participation and contribution of all possible external partners, to ensure that ASEAN member states coexist peacefully with each other and with countries in the region and the outside world in an environment of justice, democracy and harmony. The APSC is not a military bloc, not a military alliance or joint foreign policy. The APSC shall promote a comprehensive approach to security, including political, economic, cultural-social and environmental aspects; strengthen political and diplomatic cooperation, develop and share common standards of conduct; promote the trend of not using military forces and resolve all disputes by peaceful means; retain open relations

Could ASEAN Counterbalance to China in the Region? Evidences for the "Yes" Answer
A number of measures have been taken by ASEAN to resolve disputes in the South China Sea or to build trust among the parties to curb potential conflicts and prevent further military clashes, mainly through means of negotiation. Those measures are carried out collectively by the ASEAN as a whole, but they are impossible to be taken individually by any single ASEAN member state. In this context, ASEAN is capable of addressing cross-border issues of the region that any single country cannot do. Disputes over sovereignty, territory, security, maritime safety, terrorism, arms control, human and drug trafficking, climate change, water security, epidemics, migration and displacement, financial imbalances and international trade are regional or even interregional problems. Due to the scale of these problems, most of them are at regional level, their settlement should be carried out collectively, through regional mechanisms 57 . In this sense, ASEAN is an appropriate counterpart for China in solving common regional security issues of both  China  while ASEAN seems to be relatively quiet and of no concern at all. In this circumstance who will take the lead in counterbalancing China ?" 61 . Marty Natalegawa responded: "We need to avoid trying to counterbalance China, which can be considered a meaningless effort, not just for ASEAN, but even for the US. All political and social movements of ASEAN countries will be affected by China's unprecedented power. So the question is not how to counter it, but how to manage it and live with this strategic imbalance" 62 . Competition between the two superpowers pow er in the region is dividing ASEAN bloc and ASEAN nations within, and we have seen many methods of protection, for example the withdrawal of the Cambodian opposition. This is the moment of time when ASEAN needs to get the best of current overall situation in the region or otherwise things will get worse 63 .

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
The article summarizes current literature on international relations and security issues, puts forward some economic and political context appraisals and analyzes the ongoing situation of ASEAN in the relation to China in multiple aspects. Hereafter, more details associated with theoretical and practical contributions of this article are presented as major achievements of authors:

Conclusion and Theoretical contribution
First and foremost, the article gives full understanding of complex essence (military and non-military nature) and multiple definitions of national security in context of the ongoing globalization process. National security could be defined by its specific goals, by using succession approach and be regarded as a process conditioned by global or national context, condition and situation. Secondly, the article present a detailed overview of contemporary security issues, related concepts and notions (such as challenge, current threat and potential threat, real threat and sense of threat), their multidimensional (social, cultural, technological, economic, political, diplomatic and military character), multi-perspective (internal, external), multifaceted (conventional and unconventional) and multi-level (global, regional supranational, national, social groups, families and individuals) character. All of that are based on a sound and solid literature review of relevant, multiple sources of world-class security related scientific journals.
Thirdly, when it comes to the research methodology on security issues, the article proposes to borrow from disciplines of social sciences. However, security science should preserve both its originality (to have own distinctive specifics and to be separated from other scientific disciplines) and multidisciplinary character (to be at the crossroad of well-rounded traditional political science, sociology, psychology, etc.). Fourthly, in terms of framework of research on security issues, at the global and regional level of security analysis the article propose classification into conventional and unconventional issues, at the national level -external and internal issues accordingly. The article provides justification for those classifications and highlights the critical importance of unconventional issues at the global level and, respectively, internal issues at national level. Finally, as globalization shapes processes that take place in all spheres of human activity, including economy and security, those are areas of basic importance for human functioning in the contemporary world, mutually penetrating and dependent on each other. The article attaches important role of national government in retaining global benefits and security for its citizens and enterprises, at the same time limiting all possible negative consequences. As a result, for the need of conducting comparative study between ASEAN and China, a comprehensive research scheme was adopted that embraces those two parallel aspects of security issues: macroeconomic security and existential security. The first one is associated with general economic power, trade and investment position and advantage while the second is related with geopolitical identity (to be or not to be), geo-strategic position and general geo-military capability of each researched object: ASEAN or China.

Discussion and recommendation
The article addresses a very interesting topic of security science and security issues (strategic counterbalance) of the well-known research objects (ASEAN and China), and is based on strong relevant empirical materials to support arguments of many hypotheses formulated and statements declared. As a basis for further detailed analysis, at the beginning, the article gives an overview over ASEAN-China relationship and a full insight into the development history of each of them. In the most important section of the article, the comparative study between ASEAN and China based on the proposed comprehensive research scheme, many arguments are put forward to justify that China's dominant position in the overall relationship with ASEAN bloc, both in terms of macroeconomic security issues and political existential security issues. China is both an economic and military powerhouse in the region. Looking at the trade and investment relationship over past years, most of ASEAN countries suffered from chronic trade and investment deficit with China. ASEAN countries invest directly more in China than China invest in ASEAN. It is totally unacceptable and must change soon, given the trend of colossal outflows of Chinese FDI around the world, especially in Africa. The real problem of ASEAN is not how strong and how big it is but is that ASEAN countries are not internally united to exert common stance toward China in many aspects of their strategic economic and security relationship. This is similar to the European Union (EU) in counterbalancing the US economic hegemony. The problem is not the size and scale of EU economy. As an open bloc, it could be enlarged by admitting new members from Eastern Europe and Balkan region to become the largest economy in the world. The problem is how EU can be internally united to elaborate common stance toward the US and the world in many strategic issues and to avoid the next exit of current member states and the uncomfortable situation of the union of two speeds. For both the EU and ASEAN, it is better to be smaller but internally united and strongly committed rather than to be a big but loose confederation of a large number of member states. ASEAN should show more solidarity and be strongly integrated within to avoid being treated as buffer zone or an area of geo-political domination and strategic game between China and US. This is the only possible way for ASEAN to counterbalance China or any other economic and political forces in the region or outside.