ASEM takes off
ASEM takes off
The foundation for greater Asia-Europe cooperation has been
established. The leaders from 10 Asian and 15 European Union
countries, who concluded their first summit meeting between the
two regions in Bangkok over the weekend, should be commended for
initiating the new forum. Credit must also be given to the host
country, Thailand, whose diplomatic skills contributed greatly to
the success of the first Asia-Europe meeting (Asem).
Given the widely differing conditions of the seven
participating ASEAN members, Japan, South Korea and China as well
as the 15 European Union members, the smoothness of the summit
proceedings is in itself a great achievement. Despite the name of
the meeting, it was not the gathering of two parties but of 25
sovereign nations in different stages of economic development and
with varying political aspirations. Even the members of an
economically-integrated European Union do not always share a
common position on all issues.
The success of the summit might be attributable to the
willingness of the leaders to sideline the potentially
contentious issues and limit their discussions to mutually
beneficial economic cooperation in the areas of trade and
investment. More intensive political dialog can be phased in when
the process matures and the participants have developed a
stronger rapport. A follow-up mechanism that is not too
bureaucratic or rigid has already been set up.
The chairman of the meeting, Thailand's Prime Minister Banharn
Silpa-archa, stated the basic principles of dialog to be mutual
respect, equality, promotion of fundamental rights in accordance
with the rules of international laws and regulations and non-
intervention. We agree that these principles will be most
effective in ensuring more meaningful dialog among the 25
countries.
By focusing on broad economic issues, the meeting addressed
the most common interests of all participating countries. The
leaders avoided outlining specific, detailed programs, which are
subject to competing interests, and discussed the establishment
of a market economy, an open multilateral trading system, non-
discriminatory liberalization and open regionalism.
The leaders will gather every two years -- Britain will hold
the second in 1998 and South Korea the third in 2000 -- while
their senior officials and ministers will meet between summits.
Encouraging also were the concrete measures agreed upon to set
the process in motion. An Asia-Europe Business Forum, scheduled
for this year, the drafting of an investment promotion plan and a
meeting of economic ministers next year are all realistic steps
towards the forging of strategic economic linkages between the
two continents.