Indochiny – trudna integracja

This article sets out to present the evolution of integration ideas and the status of Indochina states’ integration at the turn of 20th century. Since the end of the 19th century the observed attempts of Indochina region’s integration can be considered unsuccessful. They have been naturally based on the geographic proximity of the Peninsula’s states. Initially, the idea was to create a federation, imposed by the colonial power – France. Another initiative, forced by political situation, was to unite the national liberation movements with communist Vietnam as a leader. Successive regional economic initiatives stimulated by the United Nations also turned out to be failures because they were selectively directed towards some states and didn’t contribute to creating a regional consciousness. It was as late as in 1990’s that the region’s integration process was initiated thanks to the solution of some problems and disputes in mutual relations, and an objective tendency to strengthen the regional ties. The creation of Indochina states’ regional subsystem proceeds in the framework of the Southeast Asia region with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as its organizational structure. The process of Indochina’s integration takes the most comprehensive form, consisting in an economic integration, designed to support trade liberalization and a stable socio-economic growth. Nevertheless, some activities have an uncoordinated nature. The Indochina states don’t aspire to create a uniform political or military structure. They cooperate in this field through the ASEAN initiatives. The activity of the former French Indochina’s leader, Vietnam, is also developing in this direction. Therefore, the main objective of the Mekong subregion is such an economic growth, that it could enter ASEAN free trade zone as planned, in 2008, and reinforce the regional structures under the circumstances of the globalization of contemporary international relations.