Bigger steps toward accelerating Asian integration<\/p>\n
Eric Teo Chu Cheow,
\nChina Daily,
\nAsia News Network,
\nBeijing<\/p>\n
The recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit
\nheld in Vientiane, Laos on November 28-30, could have broken new
\nground in Asian integration and community-building. Optimism was
\nhigh following the conclusion of the 10th ASEAN Summit, as well
\nas the back-to-back summit meetings between ASEAN and its Asian-
\nPacific partners, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK),
\nIndia, Australia and New Zealand. India's increasing role in
\nAsian integration was of particular significance.<\/p>\n
Equally significant was the holding of the second High-Level
\nConference on Asian Economic Integration, held in Tokyo in mid-
\nNovember 2004, organized by the New Delhi-based Research
\nInformation System (RIS) of Non-Aligned Countries. The RIS-
\norganized and Sasakawa Peace Foundation-sponsored meeting was the
\nsecond in a series, which began in New Delhi last autumn. The
\nthird conference is scheduled to be held in Beijing next year.
\nThe Chinese partner in this series of conferences is the
\nDevelopment Research Centre of the State Council.<\/p>\n
This series of conferences, actively pioneered by New Delhi-
\nbased RIS, clearly involves India in East Asian integration.
\nIndia wants to be part of the first stage of this integration,
\nwhich could be officially launched as early as next November in
\nKuala Lumpur, Malaysia. India has pledged to fully contribute to
\nAsia's economic co-operation and integration, ranging from energy
\nand financial co-operation to IT and trade. It has insisted on
\nhow Asia's tremendous financial assets (in terms of forex
\nreserves) could be effectively used to enhance Asia's bargaining
\npower on the world stage with other established or emerging
\nentities, such as the European Union (EU) and North America Free
\nTrade Area (NAFTA), or even the emerging groupings in Latin
\nAmerica, the Middle East or Africa.<\/p>\n
Regionalism is on the rise and East Asia should not be left
\nout of this global trend. India knows that it would have to
\nprimarily obtain the tacit consent of Japan and China to join the
\nfuture East Asian community, after having successfully wooed
\nASEAN. In Tokyo, India also signalled the birth of a "new India"
\nand its new mentality of openness and regionalism. As an
\nindication of this new thinking, four young parliamentarians from
\nIndia's four biggest political parties attended the conference to
\nhighlight India's "new" outlook in terms of business, trade,
\ninvestment and integration. The Indians also insisted that their
\n"open economic policy" is now irreversible as all political
\nparties fully share this goal. According to them, this should
\nencourage East Asia to embrace India within its future community,
\nwhich the Indians have dubbed "JACIK" or the "Japan, ASEAN,
\nChina, India and the Republic of Korea" grouping.<\/p>\n
This idea of "JACIK" appears to have also made some progress
\nin an official sense at the ASEAN Vientiane Summit. Indian Prime
\nMinister Manmohan Singh attended the ASEAN-India Summit and had
\nan invaluable occasion to informally meet his counterparts from
\nChina and Japan. Singh, famous for his liberal stance in economic
\nmanagement, reiterated the crucial importance of East Asian
\nintegration to India and vice versa, and pitched India's "new
\nthinking" to his Asian counterpart as "an irreversible process,"
\nwhich should also help develop East Asian regionalism.<\/p>\n
On their end, ASEAN leaders formalized their intention to work
\neven more closely with China and India, in order to ensure their
\nown prosperity and greater global influence.<\/p>\n
Of particular significance was the speech to ASEAN business
\nleaders by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who called
\nfor greater ASEAN integration with China and India. This official
\nacknowledgement of Beijing's and New Delhi's growing clout and
\nimportance to ASEAN was significant, as ASEAN in fact completed
\nnegotiating its schedule of liberalization of goods within the
\nfuture ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) last month. The two
\npartners should now be able to meet their FTA schedule by 2010.
\nOn the other hand, India's future place within East Asia appears
\nto have "taken a big step forward."<\/p>\n
In fact, ASEAN is currently negotiating a FTA with India, just
\nas Indian Prime Minister Singh declared in Vientiane that trade
\nbetween India and ASEAN should more than double to US$30 billion
\nby 2007.<\/p>\n
ASEAN, after pledging to accelerate its own development of an
\nASEAN Economic Community five years earlier than scheduled, also
\ndecided at the summit to begin FTA negotiations with Japan and
\nthe ROK next year, giving further impetus to the "ASEAN+3"
\nprocess, just as Chinese, Japanese and ROK leaders also met at
\nsummit level in Vientiane to strengthen Northeast Asian co-
\noperation, notably in energy security and resolving the nuclear
\nissue on the Korean Peninsula through the six-party talks
\nmechanism.<\/p>\n
The strengthening of the Northeast Asian pillar in "ASEAN+3"
\nis always deemed crucial for the success of any future pan-East
\nAsian regional framework. For the first time, ASEAN also invited
\nAustralia and New Zealand to the summit, as ASEAN prepares to
\nbegin negotiating FTAs with both Canberra and Wellington next
\nyear, which could now hope to belong to the future Asian
\ngrouping.<\/p>\n
Finally, the concept of an Asian economic bloc got a major
\nboost at the Vientiane summit. Philippine President Gloria
\nMacapagal-Arroyo called on ASEAN to "embrace China, Japan, the
\nROK and India." Such an economic bloc, according to Arroyo, could
\n"hold its own" in future negotiations with the United States,
\nEurope or other emerging economic entities. This led to a crucial
\ndecision to organize an East Asian Summit (EAS) in Kuala Lumpur
\nnext year, when Malaysia takes over the chairmanship of ASEAN.<\/p>\n
An ASEAN consensus on an EAS was reached after Indonesia
\naccepted the idea to transform the "ASEAN+3" framework into an
\nEAS, with the possible addition of India, Australia and New
\nZealand, thus forging a long-term Asian economic, social,
\ncultural and political community.<\/p>\n
But the EAS framework should remain open and not be exclusive.
\nPragmatically, it should not be guided by feelings of "Asian
\nnationalism," but instead, seek to improve co-operation with the
\nUnited States and the EU in a global partnership. The Vientiane
\nsummit has taken the first step forward towards building a three
\nbillion-strong East Asian community, and may ultimately be
\nremembered for this "monumental Asian step forward."<\/p>",
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