IS THE ‘ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY’ UNDER SIEGE? The New Trajectory of the Asean Economic Community the two Mega- Regional Agreements; “RCEP” and “TPP” INDRA KUSUMAWARDHANA 1 & JEREMIAH DANIEL 2 Abstract The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was signed by the leading nations of Southeast Asia in Kuala Lumpur on 31, December 2015. This was a great achievement of regional integration, pointing members of the AEC towards a single market “awakening”. Despite this tremendous progress, the reality is that ASEAN members are now involved in two mega-regional agreements. One, which has the potential to protect ASEAN centrality, ASEAN+6 or the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP); and the other, the US-led Trans-Pacifc-Partnership Agreement. This participation by ASEAN members with various economic partners outside ASEAN may result in dependency to global capitalism networks. Departing from the above mentioned context, the core question then arises: “Has the global economic structure provide an opportune precondition for the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Commu- nity (AEC)?” To tackle this question, this essay will use Dependency Theory to analyze the global economic structures which encase the AEC’s regional economic integration agenda and to reveal the ASEAN members’ dependence on global capitalism. This essay explores both the attempts of the ASEAN framework to create a comprehensive economic community; and the consequences of ASEAN integration with two mega-regional agreements in the region. It is argued that the dependency of ASEAN members on the structure of the global economy proves that it does not provide a proper pre-conditioning for the AEC to be implemented. Moreover, it will be hegemonic factors that challenge the existence of the AEC. Keywords: ASEAN, Regional Economic Integration, ASEAN Economic Community, Dependency, Global Political Economy Abstrak Kesepakatan mengenai pelaksanaan Masyarakat Ekonomi ASEANatauASEAN Economic Community (AEC), yang ditandatangani di Kuala Lumpur oleh negara-negara terdepan di Asia Tenggara, akhirnya mulai berlaku dengan banyak keriuhan pada tanggal 31 Desember 2015. Ini adalah kemajuan –dan tonggak pertama–bagi Proyek Integrasi Regional ini, yang dengan tajam dan spesifik mengarah pada “kebangkitan”dari sebuah pasar tunggal. “Kebangkitan” ini bisa didefinisikan sebagai sebuah blok kekuatan baru di Asia. Terlepas dari kemajuan yang luar biasa ini, pada kenyataannya para anggota ASEAN sekarang terlibat dalam dua kesepakatan mega-regional. Satu, dengan potensi untuk melindungi sentralitas ASEAN, ASEAN + 6 atau Regional Comprehensive Economic Partner- ship (RCEP); Dan yang lainnya, Trans-Pacific-Partnership Agreement yang dipimpin oleh Amerika Serikat. Dalam 1 Department of International Relations, Faculty of Communication and Diplomacy, Universitas Pertamina. South Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia. Email: Indra15008@mail.unpad.ac.id. This manuscript was presented in the 1st International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities 2016 was held by Indonesian Institute of Sciences. 2 Department of International Relations, Faculty of Communication, London School of Public Relations Jakarta. Central Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia. Email: jrmhdnl@gmail.com. Copyright ©2017 The Authors, ©2017 Deputy of Social Sciences and Humanities. All rights reserved. Printed in Indonesia. Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities (JISSH); Vol.7, Issue 1, (2017), pp. 29-41. ISSN: 1979-8431.