East Asia economic bloc unlikely, Akrasanee says

East Asia economic bloc unlikely, Akrasanee says

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The East Asian economy will only get better and stronger and has
the potential to become one of the world's most powerful economic
forces, according to Thailand's former minister of commerce
Narongchai Akrasanee.

However, Akrasanee doubted that such situation would lead the
countries within the region toward forming an integrated economic
bloc -- a concept that has been center stage in the region in the
last two to three years.

"I believe that the emerging East Asia economic area will be
the third economic center of the world, but is unlikely to be an
economic bloc," he said in a speech on Wednesday, during the
launching of a book titled, ASEAN-Japan Cooperation: A foundation
for East Asian Community, to commemorate the 30th year of a
relationship between the Association of Southeast Asian countries
and Japan.

Akrasanee was invited to deliver the 2003 Panglaykim Memorial
Lecture before a forum here organized and hosted by the Center
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a respected think
thank in Jakarta.

Akrasanee, a former senator who currently serves as an advisor
to Thailand's deputy prime minister, pointed to negative
implications if the area were to form such a bloc -- the reason
why it was unlikely.

The impacts would all center mainly on two things.

Not only would it prompt retaliatory action from other areas,
be it within or outside the region, but would also -- more
importantly -- exclude themselves from the outsiders.

Both would only bring in undesirable impacts to the area, he
added.

The concept of an East Asia economic bloc -- which should
group together the region's established economic giants such as
Japan and South Korea, coupled with the newly born China, with
Asia's emerging economies in the manner of ASEAN countries -- has
been widely discussed not only in the region, but also outside.

Akrasanee highlighted a number of reasons behind the emergence
of such a discussion. First of all, the countries in the area are
beginning to realize that they have become a significant part of
the world's economy.

By the end of last year, the combined gross domestic product
(GDP) of those countries stood at 21 percent of total world GDP,
while exports reached a quarter of the world's total. In
comparison, in the 1970s, the total GDP and exports in the area
were still 14 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

Aside from that, Akrasanne went on, other reasons for the
intensive discussion on the issue were that these countries were
disappointed at the unjust system exposed by the existing global
economic corporation such as the World Trade Organization (WTO),
as well as how the global financial system works -- often very
much against developing countries, as evident in the recent
regional financial crisis.

Another point that only recently came to the surface was the
politically driven economic system, which has been introduced by
developed countries, notably the U.S.

"They are ruining many things what we're trying to accomplish
by doing that. First they did it with the politics of the Cold
War, and now, with the politics of international terrorism."