ASEAN role in APEC is praised<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A senior United States official yesterday
\nacknowledged the importance of the Association of South East
\nAsian Nations (ASEAN) to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
\n(APEC), despite the association's initial wariness of the forum.<\/p>\n
\"Since APEC was founded in 1989, there has been a sense that
\nASEAN is, in many ways, the core of APEC,\" said Sandra Kristoff,
\nthe director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council
\n(NSC).<\/p>\n
Speaking in Washington yesterday through a Worldnet Dialogue,
\nKristoff told an international audience of the significance of
\nASEAN members to the success of APEC.<\/p>\n
APEC groups Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, Hong
\nKong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Papua
\nNew Guinea along with the six members of ASEAN -- Thailand,
\nMalaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines and Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Kristoff's comments came at an opportune time, during a
\nseeming shift on ASEAN's attitude from cautiousness to a more
\nwelcoming stance towards the forum.<\/p>\n
When APEC was first established in Canberra in 1989, ASEAN
\nadopted a cautious stance towards the forum.<\/p>\n
The concerns were affirmed when ASEAN ministers met in
\nMalaysia the following year and declared a common understanding
\ninsisting APEC to remain a loose consultative forum.<\/p>\n
At that point, ASEAN members obviously feared that the
\ndelicate trust and cohesiveness carefully built among its members
\nwould be diluted by APEC.<\/p>\n
Kristoff, however, remarked yesterday that ASEAN would have
\nmuch to gain through APEC.<\/p>\n
\"I think APEC will help ASEAN realize its economic potential,\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
As a presidential advisor on APEC economic issues, Kristoff
\nled the U.S. delegation at the recent APEC Senior Officials
\nMeeting (SOM) in Yogyakarta, which outlined a draft agenda for
\nthe forum's upcoming Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta on Nov. 11-
\n12.<\/p>\n
Effectiveness<\/p>\n
Responding to questions from panelists in Tokyo, Seoul,
\nBangkok and Manila, Kristoff noted the effectiveness of ASEAN as
\na group since its formation in 1967. She said the initial premise
\nof ASEAN's central role in APEC still holds true today if not
\neven more so.<\/p>\n
The other non-ASEAN member countries in APEC \"pay close
\nattention to ASEAN's views,\" she said.<\/p>\n
When queried on the U.S. position on the Malaysian-sponsored
\nEast Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC), Kristoff brushed aside the
\nsubject arguing that it was not the optimum instrument to achieve
\nthe common goals of APEC members.<\/p>\n
\"We continue to think that APEC is the proper, appropriate and
\nbest vehicle for advancing economic development in the region,\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
She also denied that the swift pace at which APEC is
\nprogressing is due to U.S. influence. \"I don't think that the
\nUnited States is making APEC go faster than it is willing to
\nmove.\"<\/p>\n
Describing the goals for the upcoming meeting in Jakarta,
\nKristoff revealed that the United States would like to see an
\nendorsement of the trade and investment agenda recently drafted
\nby the SOM.<\/p>\n
Though she says no detailed program for trade liberalization
\nhas been established, the SOM drafted a number of proposal and
\nworking groups to facilitate the lowering of trade barriers.<\/p>\n
She added that the United States would also like the APEC
\nleaders meeting in Bogor, West Java, on Nov. 15 to build on the
\nmomentum of the inaugural leaders meeting on Blake Island,
\nSeattle, last year.<\/p>\n
The Bogor meeting should give a \"shot in the arm\" of political
\nwill to APEC, she said.(mds)<\/p>",
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