FTA with ASEAN a must for Japan

FTA with ASEAN a must for Japan

The Daily Yomiuri, Asia News Network, Tokyo

If the government continues to be preoccupied with the
interests of a few, the interests of all will be jeopardized.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi agreed with top
leaders from Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines to open
separate negotiations aimed at signing bilateral free trade
agreements. The latest development came when Koizumi held
separate meetings with these leaders, who are in Tokyo for a two-
day summit between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations.

Japan is already making preparations to start FTA negotiations
with South Korea in late December. In early 2004, this country is
scheduled to open preliminary talks aimed at signing an economic
partnership treaty with the 10-member ASEAN as a whole.

Rapid progress has been made toward reaching FTAs among many
nations in recent years. Japan is falling behind in this regard,
with Singapore as its only FTA partner. Under the circumstances,
Japan could find itself behind China and India in their
respective efforts to conclude FTAs.

The ASEAN trading bloc is Japan's second largest trade partner
after the United States. Lack of progress in forming economic
partnerships between Japan and the ASEAN economies would hamper
efforts to smoothly expand bilateral trade. This would undermine
Japan's efforts to achieve stable economic growth.

With this in mind, Japan should accelerate efforts to sign
FTAs with individual ASEAN nations and an FTA-based economic-
partnership treaty with the 10-member bloc.

Japan will face many hurdles in negotiating FTAs with ASEAN
economies.

Japanese efforts to conclude FTAs with ASEAN nations have been
preceded by an attempt to sign a similar accord with Mexico.
However, Japan and Mexico were unable to reach a consensus on a
Mexican demand for an end to Japanese import restrictions on
pork, oranges and other farm products.

In the end, the two nations failed to reach an agreement when
the Mexican president visited Japan in October. Under the
circumstances, it is virtually impossible for the two countries
to resolve their differences by the end of the year.

The gridlock in negotiations between Japan and Mexico is
partly due to objections raised by Japanese farmers and
agricultural organizations who fear that ending import
restrictions on Mexican farm products could lead to opening up
domestic markets to agricultural goods from other nations. Their
sentiments have been echoed by lawmakers with vested interests in
the agricultural sector.

It is expected similar objections may be raised in various
sectors about demands from South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and
the Philippines. These nations have urged Japan to open its
market to farm and marine products, as well as nurses and
nursing-care personnel.

For years, it has been suggested that the government devise a
comprehensive trade strategy that would better complement
domestic industrial policies. This calls for looking ahead five
years -- or even 10 years.

The question is how should the government make headway in
liberalizing the domestic market for farm imports and foreign
workers? It is important to consider what must be done to make
the domestic agricultural sector and relevant industries
internationally competitive.

So far, the government has been unable to come up with ways to
meet these challenges. This is largely because some ministries
and legislators are trying to defend the interests of a few.

However, there are signs of changes taking place. The
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry has begun work to
revise its food and agricultural policies. The ministry is
seeking to make Japan's agricultural sector more competitive in
the global market through a number of measures, including
subsidies to farmers. This is apparently aimed at ensuring that
the farm industry will be able to survive if import restrictions
on agricultural products are lifted.

Meanwhile, some members of the ruling coalition are trying to
set up a committee comprising officials from the government and
the ruling parties that would help reach FTAs with other nations.

The government should take advantage of these efforts to sign
FTAs with the individual ASEAN countries and the regional bloc as
a whole.