Asia unites in adversity
Asia unites in adversity
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Twelve Asian nations formed a sense of
unity through adversity during a three-day summit in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia's host Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said
yesterday.
The annual summit of nine members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), joined for the first time by
Japan, China and South Korea, ended with little concrete progress
toward settling a financial crisis that sent several regional
currencies plunging to new lows through the day.
But Mahathir felt the meeting had had some success.
"I'm a little bit optimistic now that a lot more people
understand the problem ... it was impressed on everyone that when
you lose billions of dollars, you don't regain billions of
dollars just by marking time," he told a final news conference.
The gathering of ASEAN members and the three Northeast Asian
countries was the largest ever meeting of purely Asian leaders.
Mahathir said there was a strong push for a similar meeting
next year.
"There is a sense of unity, unity in adversity if you like,
because all of us are suffering from the same disease, probably
being caused by the same virus," he said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- all of which have
been hit to a some degree by the currency turmoil in the region.
Asian markets yesterday shrugged off the summit, with analysts
disparaging "bland statements".
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has orchestrated a
bailout exceeding US$100 billion for the crumbling economies of
Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea.
Japan and China stressed their assistance to the region would
come within the IMF framework. Japan, plagued with its own
domestic financial problems, played down its position as an
economic superpower -- Mahathir said Tokyo no longer saw itself
as the leading goose among the Asian geese.
There was no offer of extra financial assistance from Tokyo,
which stressed what it saw as the importance of a pledge to train
20,000 young Asians.
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto also vowed to prevent his own
nation's economic woes from sparking a world recession.
The ASEAN leaders met alone Monday and issued a communique
saying the IMF bailouts had so far failed to halt the slide in
currencies.
They called on the United States, Japan and the European Union
to face up to the global dimension of the turmoil.
In his closing news conference, Mahathir said ASEAN had made
no financial claims on the leading economies.
"They merely said that if they can do something about this,
please do, that's all."
Senior ASEAN officials said it was vital that major economic
powers should express confidence in the future of the Asian
economies to help return stability to the region.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin said China had no plans to
devalue its currency and Chinese officials said Beijing would
continue to support the IMF rescue operations -- China is also in
discussions with Jakarta about aid for Indonesia.
Mahathir, whose forceful comments have sometimes been blamed
for adding to market turmoil in his country, said yesterday he
would stop making remarks that hurt market sentiment.
He said he had been advised to curb his comments against
currency traders and that there was a "feeling of fear" of
speaking against the market.
"I sense a feeling of fear that if you say the wrong things it
will affect the market, so don't say (it)," he said."I accept
that, I won't say anything."
Asked about previous charges of a conspiracy against Southeast
Asian economies, he said: "The economies of Southeast Asia used
to be vibrant and were described as miracle economies and all
that. They're no longer miracles, they are no longer vibrant," he
said.
"That is the effect, whether there is a conspiracy or not, and
when you are up against forces that you can't fight against,
there is little that you can do ... We have to accept that in
this world there is no equality. Might is still right."
Hashimoto -- Page 6
Bailout -- Page 10