ASEAN leaders, Chinese PM to unite against SARS at summit
ASEAN leaders, Chinese PM to unite against SARS at summit
Samantha Brown, Agence France-Presse, Bangkok
In a rare emergency summit on Tuesday, ASEAN's 10 leaders plus China's Premier Wen Jiabao will seek to present a unified front to the world in their battle against the SARS crisis, while behind-the-scenes negotiations with China are likely to be more delicate, analysts say.
The summit is likely to produce a message of unity pitched primarily at investors as fears of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) soar with the relentless daily death tolls from worst-hit China and Hong Kong persisting, they say.
"They will enumerate the measures they have taken, while trying to sell the idea that the situation has stabilized," one Bangkok-based Western diplomat said.
"The basic idea they will present is: agreeing the epidemic has not been eradicated, but has been reduced, and saying, we have taken firm and effective measures to contain it, therefore it is not necessary to reduce investment."
SARS is wreaking havoc on ASEAN's economies, with growth forecasts being steadily lowered and tourism plummeting, leaving related industries, such as aviation, reeling.
Its potentially devastating social impact is also becoming clear, with at least 278 people now dead from the illness, mostly in Asia, and more than 4,800 people infected in more than 25 countries.
China's failure to alert the world to the emergence of the new virus in southern Guangdong province last November has evinced widespread criticism, but ASEAN and China have realized they must join forces if they have any chance of containing the disease, analysts say.
At a meeting of East Asian health ministers in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur on Saturday ahead of the leaders' summit, China's deputy health minister Huang Jiefu was asked about the value of meeting with his ASEAN counterparts.
"I think solidarity and also (being) united and together as a team to fight the epidemic," he said.
At the meeting, the ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea vowed to enforce strict screening measures at all airports and other exit points to prevent suspected SARS cases from leaving, in a strong indication of cooperation.
How ASEAN deals with China behind the scenes, however, is less certain, with the powerful country's presence possibly complicating overall negotiations, the diplomat said.
"In terms of making a display, the fact that China is already there is a sign of mobilization of the principal Asian countries, which can only be well perceived. But the concrete results are likely to be reduced. It is a delicate exercise," the diplomat said.
"Either they will not announce anything with regard to China or they will announce further measurements, but that is not probable," he said, noting Singapore and Thailand's reliance on China as a trade partner.
Prapat Thepchatree, director of Thammasat University's Center for International Policy Studies, believes that ASEAN will be reluctant to openly criticize China, but said that China's backfoot handling of the crisis could subtly shift the regional balance of power.