The history of the unification of Southeast Asian states into a regional economic and political bloc dates back to the events that took place at the very end of World War II. Then, in the wake of the struggle for independence and against colonial rule, such prominent figures of national liberation movements as Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and Aung San in Burma called for the unification of all states in the region to resist the attempts of the former metropolises to regain control of them.
After declaring Vietnam's independence and becoming the country's president, Ho Chi Minh immediately appealed to the leader of the Indonesian revolution, Sukarno, who at the same time declared Indonesia's independence and became its president, with a proposal to create a Southeast Asian cooperation organization to jointly defend national independence. In October 1945, the leader of the Burmese revolution, Aung San, invited representatives of the national liberation forces of neighboring countries to hold an Asian conference to work out collective actions to win political independence. In 1947. He made a proposal to create an organization of the Asian commonwealth consisting of Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, Indonesia and Thailand. At the same time, it was planned to form this association of Asian states on a left-wing, anti-imperialist and anti-colonial platform. Nationalism, Asian solidarity and socialism were to become the ideological foundation of the proposed union. However, in the future, the tragic death of Aung San in 1947. the defeat of left-wing pro-communist forces in most countries of the region, the long struggle for independence in Vietnam and the subsequent division of the country put an end to the idea of uniting Southeast Asia on the basis of anti-imperialist and socialist ideas and views for a long time.
Once again, the idea of uniting the countries of the region into a single bloc was actualized only ten years later in connection with the formation of the Mala ...
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