ASEAN must 'lead reshaping' of world financial system
ASEAN must 'lead reshaping' of world financial system
MANILA (Agencies): New Philippine President Joseph Estrada urged Southeast Asian nations yesterday to take the lead in reshaping the world financial system to ensure that Asian-style currency crises are not repeated.
Estrada, speaking at the opening of the annual meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said the nine-nation group also needs to strengthen its ties to win back the confidence of investors and recover from the devastating regional financial crisis.
Only a few countries in ASEAN -- once the world's most rapidly developing region -- are expected to escape recessions this year.
"As we have gone through this storm together, we have acquired a deeper realization that we need to bind ourselves to one another even more tightly," Estrada said. "After all, the world treats us as one; we get rewarded and we get penalized as one."
The speech was Estrada's first on foreign affairs since his inauguration June 30. During his campaign, the former action movie star pledged to focus on domestic concerns and limit his overseas travel, particularly to poor countries, which he said was a waste of time.
He told the ASEAN ministers, however, that Philippine foreign policy would be anchored on Southeast Asian solidarity. Close relations within ASEAN, he said, should be forged through greater frankness.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said yesterday the crippling economic havoc sweeping through Southeast Asia threatens regional stability far more than the accompanying political and security turmoil.
While recent nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan raised the specter of an arms race and conflicting claims over the Spratly Islands were a cause for worry, Alatas said the currency crisis had even greater impact on what was once touted as the world's fastest growing region economically.
"If the general stability of our region has been shaken in recent times, it is not due to any political development but rather to a monetary and financial crisis that erupted at about this time last year and has, since then, led to widespread economic and social turmoil," Alatas told the opening session of the two-day 31st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting.
Indonesia has been the hardest hit by the meltdown. As the rupiah went into a freefall and prices of food soared, Indonesians took to the streets in violent riots, killing more than 1,000 people and forcing ethnic Chinese to flee. Former President Soeharto stepped down in May, but the turmoil has continued.
In an unprecedented discussion over dinner Thursday night, the foreign ministers took the more cautious step of agreeing to support more frank expressions of views within ASEAN about events in member nations when they affect other members. But they decided to maintain the group's cardinal principle of non- interference in each country's domestic affairs.
ASEAN's willingness to discuss such a critical change comes as Southeast Asian countries are becoming more aware that problems in one nation -- such as currency devaluations, political unrest or environmental degradation -- often affect its neighbors.
Human rights groups were dissatisfied with the change and said ASEAN should speak out openly to encourage human rights and democracy in member countries such as Myanmar.
The Alternative ASEAN Network on Myanmar called on ASEAN yesterday to lead its major trading partners in developing a transition package to ensure that the country's military negotiates with the National League for Democracy, headed by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Estrada said that If ASEAN does not take the lead, "others will once again shape our destiny for us."
He said a lasting peace and true community is only possible in Asia if animosities from World War II are finally put to rest.
"It is time for Japan, China and Korea to talk and put the past behind them," he said, adding that "Then, maybe, bigger dreams can beckon -- one market, one currency, one community."