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ASEAN has been successful in achieving peace. Its members pledge to rely exclusively on peaceful processes to settle intra-regional differences and there have been no armed confrontations between member states. To build on this, ASEAN Leaders have established an ASEAN Security Community (ASC) to ensure that countries in the region live at peace with each other and with the world. In 1994 ASEAN established the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) as an informal channel for discussing security issues in the AsiaPacific region and to promote preventive diplomacy. In addition to ASEAN members, the ARF includes Australia, Canada, China, the European Union (EU), India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Russian Federation, South Korea, and the USA. In 1995, ASEAN heads of government signed a declaration prohibiting the possessions, manufacture, and acquisition of nuclear weapons in the region.