ASEAN, Japan should move forward beyond economic ties, experts say

Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan should extend their cooperation beyond economic ties in the face of China's growing might, experts from ASEAN countries and Japan said on Tuesday.

The relationship between ASEAN and Japan, they said, is "too economics heavy" and it is time to move on to other areas of cooperation.

"It (economic cooperation) will not be sustainable if you don't complement it with other efforts, such as in social areas, political areas and more importantly in people to people areas," said Puspa Delima Amri of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Speaking at a young leaders workshop on ASEAN-Japan ties hosted by CSIS and the Japanese Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Puspa said economic cooperation tended to limit relationships to between governments only. She called for a more "down to earth" relationship.

Douglas Wong, a Singaporean and Malaysian-based correspondent covering ASEAN news for The Financial Times, said too great a focus on economic cooperation was undermining Japan's image.

"A lot of people only see it (Japan) as a moneybags or deep pockets and that's not necessarily the best thing for Japan," Wong said.

For decades Japan has been ASEAN's main source of foreign aid and direct investment. The region enjoyed great economic growth during the 1990s on the back of Japanese-led investment.

But this ended with the 1997 financial crisis. The plunge in ASEAN countries' currencies knocked down banking sectors, forcing governments to undertake painful economic reforms.

Except for Indonesia, which has also had to deal with a political crisis, most ASEAN economies have recovered or are well on their way to recovery.

The turnaround, however, came about largely without the help of Japan. Weakened by a decade-long recession, that country was unable to pull the region out of crisis.

Instead, ASEAN looked to the U.S., where a buoyant economy absorbed the bulk of the region's exports.

With China looming large, the relationship between ASEAN and Japan will be further put to the test, according to the participants at the workshop.

Once an investment magnet, ASEAN now ranks far below China in terms of attracting foreign investors. And ASEAN's products face stiff competition from Chinese products, both abroad and in their own markets.

For Japan, China's increasingly outward looking economy spells tighter competition in the ASEAN markets. Cheaper Chinese goods target ASEAN's price savvy consumers, benefiting from battered purchasing power after the crisis. Chinese products have swamped the region, in many cases crowding out Japanese products.

Outside economic ties, the ASEAN-China relationship rivals the relationship with Japan.

"It (the ASEAN relationship with China) is more rounded than what Japan has," said Anna Lilia de Vera, the assistant director for ASEAN at the Philippines' department of foreign affairs.

Unlike Japan, she said, China had no qualms about discussing security related deals during the ASEAN summit in Cambodia last year.

According to CSIS military analyst Rizal Sukma, ASEAN has not signed a single security treaty with Japan.

"I would like to see Japanese warships working with warships from ASEAN countries to patrol the Malacca Straits, because this is where the highest number of piracy incidents occur worldwide," Rizal said, citing an example of possible security agreements.

For now, economic cooperation will remain the key component of the ASEAN-Japan relationship, said Nurazeyan Khalis of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia.

Japan's constitution blocks the country from taking an active role in regional security matters, said Lau Sim Yee of the Sasakawa Foundation.

Similar to Germany, the pacifist stance is rooted in Japan's World War II experience, and Lau Sim said the old generation still held sway in the country's politics.

Japan, however, is changing, he said. In a sign of that, Japan has sent peacekeeping forces under the United Nations to several ASEAN conflict zones, including East Timor.

The country also is considering revising its laws to allow it adopt a greater security role, Lau Sim said.

"If you leave it to Japan to put its own things in order then it may take another 10 years, so the key is how ASEAN countries encourage Japan to be more progressive," he said.