ASEAN must work hard to restore lost luster: S'pore
ASEAN must work hard to restore lost luster: S'pore
SINGAPORE (AFP): Southeast Asia must redouble efforts to "regain its lost luster", as the region faces an economic downturn and key members battle political problems, Singapore Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar said on Wednesday.
The credibility and cohesion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was being severely put to test by these challenges, he said in a speech to university students.
ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Hanoi next week should give top priority to restoring investor confidence in the region and in helping poorer members catch up economically, he said.
Singapore, which has the strongest economy in the 10-member ASEAN, has fallen into recession due to dwindling exports and sharp falls in industrial output.
Economists have for the first time raised the possibility that gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year could swing into negative territory for the city-state from a 9.9 percent expansion last year.
Singapore's ASEAN neighbors, similarly dependent on exports, have also slashed growth projections this year due the slowdown in the U.S. economy and the waning global demand for electronics products.
"With three of its founding members facing domestic challenges, and the region experiencing an economic slowdown, ASEAN is experiencing an interregnum, during which its credibility and cohesiveness are being severely tested," Jayakumar said.
He was referring to Indonesia, which is gripped by a leadership crisis and separatist unrest in some provinces, as well as the Philippines and Thailand where new governments are preoccupied with various problems.
"Even without the financial crisis, ASEAN's expansion to 10 was a challenge in itself, calling for consolidation to allow the newer members to catch up economically," Jayakumar said. "With these additional challenges ASEAN currently faces, it needs to double its efforts to regain its lost luster."
ASEAN originally grouped Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, but gradually expanded to include Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
The regional grouping is fast losing out to China in attracting foreign direct investments.
On Indonesia, ASEAN's largest member, Jayakumar said the problems were complex and a new government would find it difficult to solve all of them immediately. "If stability is restored, it might take some years for Indonesian politics to reach a new equilibrium," he said.
The association's foreign ministers gathering desperate to use key talks with international partners to refocus attention on the region in the face of the growing pull exerted by a resurgent China.
The guest list, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Japanese Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, ensures the talks a high-profile platform.
But diplomats say a host of external issues from Korea to Japanese school history textbooks already threatens to overshadow the region's efforts to put itself back on the map as the guests queue up to organize separate talks on the sidelines.
As Powell makes his first diplomatic foray into Asia, all eyes are likely to focus on the new U.S. administration's policy towards North Korea.
The U.S. State Department has said it is "possible" the secretary of state will meet North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun on the sidelines of the Hanoi talks in a bid to break a deadlock over President George W. Bush's terms for a resumption of dialogue.
Strained relations between southeast Asia's three key Asian partners -- Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo -- also threaten to overshadow the talks.