The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is not yet ready to form a security alliance patterned after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Department of National Defense (DND) Sec. Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Speaking at the 6th Katipunan Conference hosted by the Ateneo School of Government, Teodoro pointed out that a NATO-type alliance among ASEAN countries is not feasible due to complex interests among different countries.

NATO is a military alliance of 32 countries in Europe and North America that was established in 1949. Its primary goal is to protect the security and freedom of its member-countries called the "Allies", as its principle of collective defense means that if one member is attacked, all members are considered attacked.

“A NATO-type ASEAN, I don't think it is possible at this time because of the dichotomies and divergence between country interests,” he said during the security forum.

For example, Teodoro said that the Philippines has a pre-ASEAN defense alliance with the United States while other ASEAN countries have built alliances with China.

Beijing and Manila are locking horns due to overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Further, Teodoro said that Indonesia, which is a “friend and ally” of the Philippines, is having naval exercises with Russia.

This might pose a potential issue as Russia and NATO are engaged in a multifaceted geopolitical struggle rooted in historical rivalry, competition for influence, differing political ideologies, and security concerns. 

Russia’s invasion in Ukraine even brought tensions to a boiling point, creating a volatile and uncertain global security environment.

“So having an enforcement, an armed enforcement mechanism for ASEAN may be far between,” Teodoro said.

However, Teodoro emphasized that many ASEAN countries have expressed support for the Philippines when it comes to its territorial conflict with China, signaling that having mini-lateral or sub-regional arrangements is possible based on certain nations’ own security concerns.

In terms of humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR), Teodoro stated that ASEAN member-countries have established the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA).

"Rather than wait for a cumbersome process to work, we just talk between each other, defense ministers, and immediately we saw some concrete steps being taken as a demonstration actually of goodwill by our ASEAN neighbors to us," Teodoro said.

“I do not know if it will evolve into more cohesion insofar as security interests are concerned. However, the interaction is still valuable,” the defense chief noted.