Speeding up East Asian integration<\/p>\n
Zhao Huaipu, China Daily\/Asia News Network, Beijing<\/p>\n
As regional integration remains one of today's world's trends,
\nbooming East Asian cooperation is becoming a precursor of Asian
\nintegration.<\/p>\n
How to push forward steady and continuous cooperation among
\nEast Asian countries, which are still divided on numerous
\nconcrete issues, must be resolved by regional members with time
\nand experience.<\/p>\n
The success of European countries, who once differed from each
\nother on many issues, in advancing and realizing an integration
\non their continent, can lend this kind of experience for East
\nAsian countries.<\/p>\n
The emergence and development of integration in different
\nregions at different historical periods needs different driving
\nforces.<\/p>\n
With economic globalization rapidly sweeping every corner of
\nthe global village, the world has irreversibly entered a new
\nglobal era, during which peace, development and cooperation
\nremain the mainstream.<\/p>\n
On the one hand, globalization can provide underdeveloped
\ncountries with more channels to enjoy new information and new
\ntechnology created by other members, thus making it possible for
\nthem to make strides in economic development. On the other hand,
\nthe process also makes it possible that crises and risks within
\none country rapidly spread beyond to others.<\/p>\n
The domino reaction of other East Asian members to an economic
\ncrisis first in Thailand in 1997 demonstrated how vulnerable
\nother members are to local disasters.<\/p>\n
The 1997 financial crisis has made East Asian countries aware
\nthat they have no choice but to stand together to avoid suffering
\na similar attack again.<\/p>\n
The formation of the 10-3 framework, an annual summit between
\nleaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations
\n(ASEAN) and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) to
\ndiscuss all-dimensional cooperation between them, has shown a
\ncollective resolution to overcome negative factors caused by
\nglobalization.<\/p>\n
Regional integration worldwide has also been a key factor
\ndriving East Asian members to deepen cooperation with each other.<\/p>\n
Since the 1990s, the development of the trend has led to the
\nglobal market being split up into different pieces, thus forming
\nseveral monopoly markets across the world, such as the EU, the
\nNorth American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) and the African Union
\n(AU).<\/p>\n
A great stimulus to East Asian nations, the formation of these
\nregional markets has caused a sense of urgency among them that
\nthey should strengthen dialogues and co-ordination, expand
\ncooperation, and sharpen the overall competitive edge in the
\nregion to avoid being marginalized in the waves of booming
\nglobalization and regional integration.<\/p>\n
The formation of an increasing economic interdependence among
\nEast Asian members since the end of the Cold War has led to the
\nemergence of common regional interests. That has made it possible
\nand also necessary for members to co-ordinate and unify varying
\npositions to safeguard common interests.<\/p>\n
Global issues and non-traditional security threats have also
\nplayed a role in pushing East Asian countries to accelerate
\ncooperation and integration efforts.<\/p>\n
It has become undeniable that in a globalized era, the number
\nof terrorist activities, financial crimes, and drug trafficking,
\nwhich are all non-traditional issues that any individual country
\ncannot effectively curb and resolve, have been on the increase.<\/p>\n
To effectively deal with these threats, strengthening
\ncooperation is the only choice.<\/p>\n
Currently, a pessimistic tone about East Asian cooperation is
\nspreading and prevailing among some scholars, at home and abroad.<\/p>\n
Arguing the United States was a key factor prodding European
\nnations towards integration, they said East Asian nations do not
\nhave a similar factor.<\/p>\n
There have been no signs that China and Japan, two key East
\nAsian members, can reach conciliation before historical problems
\nare solved, making East Asian integration unrealistic, they said.<\/p>\n
It is true there are numerous obstacles in the way of East
\nAsian cooperation, especially lack of reconciliation between
\nBeijing and Tokyo, but it is hard to deny that regional
\ncooperation serves as the only way to East Asian peace and
\ndevelopment in a globalized era. The story of Europeans tells
\nthat any obstacle to integration is conquerable.<\/p>\n
The integration of the ASEAN has already set an example for
\nEast Asian cooperation.<\/p>\n
That initial confrontations between Singapore and Malaysia and
\nestrangement between Malaysia and the Philippines did not stop
\nSoutheast Asian nations' efforts to forge a collective body
\npresents a model for cooperation within a wider region.<\/p>\n
For East Asian nations, the establishment of a security
\nrelationship through cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit
\nand mutual trust is an applicable path to their deepened
\ncooperation.<\/p>\n
The establishment of security links between EU members on a
\nmutually beneficial footing, which has ensured peace, stability
\nand development in their continent, has offered an important
\nreference for East Asia.<\/p>\n
Given its numerous potential uncertain factors, pursuing
\nsecurity through cooperation is undoubtedly a top choice for the
\nregion.<\/p>\n
Actually, East Asian nations can completely settle their
\nsecurity predicaments by developing regional systematized
\ncooperation and establishing a sense of mutual trust.<\/p>\n
At the same time, cultural cooperation and exchanges between
\nEast Asian members can also play an important role in advancing
\nregional cooperation.<\/p>\n
Although culturally different, regional members still have
\nmuch in common.<\/p>\n
Through strengthening cultural cooperation and exchanges on
\nthe basis of Confucianism, it is possible for East Asian
\ncountries to become more intimate, thus forming a collective
\ncultural consciousness and then a common sense of regional
\nidentity.<\/p>\n
It is under just this emerging "East Asia consciousness" that
\nregional members have resolved many thorny issues between them in
\nrecent years, such as the signing of the Declaration on the
\nConduct of Parties in the South China Sea, a document signed
\nbetween China and ASEAN members in 2002 aimed at preventing
\nconflict in the region.<\/p>\n
With this kind of spirit, regional members will also have the
\nability to settle similar ticklish issues through dialogues in
\nthe future. And by that time, East Asian integration and even a
\nregional community would no longer have been a dream.<\/p>\n
The writer is an associate professor at the China Foreign
\nAffairs University.<\/p>",
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