Furthering co-operation in East Asia

There has been eye-catching progress in regional co-operation in East Asia.

Facing accelerated regional integration, an inevitable trend in today's world, any country or region has no choice but to strive to keep pace.

The realization of European integration with its common market, single currency and expanding members of the European Union (EU), and the establishment of the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) have posed a severe challenge to other regions, particularly to East Asia, a region that has strong economic vitality but lags behind in promoting regional integration.

The regional co-operation in East Asia was not actually started until the outbreak of the Asia Financial Crisis in 1997.

Self-reflection among East Asian countries in the wake of the crisis has strengthened their resolve to construct a cohesive mechanism, which is expected to fend off any potential crisis amid severe global economic competition.

Initiated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the first unofficial summit between the leaders of ASEAN nations and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) was held in Malaysia on December 15, 1997, and is viewed as a milestone of ushering in the regional co-operation.

During the summit held in the Philippines in 1999, consensus on the principles, direction and emphasis of regional co-operation was reached and a joint statement on East Asia co-operation was published for the first time. Since then, as well as the annual summit, many ministerial meetings have been gradually added. The "10+3" (10 ASEAN nations plus China, Japan and ROK) mechanism has become the main channel for dialogue between East Asian nations.

Much substantial progress has been made under its framework.

A mechanism for regional currency co-operation has been set up through the Chiang Mai Agreement, which has laid the foundation for higher-level regional financial co-operation in the future development of the region.

Although there is not yet an FTA plan covering the whole of East Asia, there have been many significant developments under the framework of regional co-operation, the first of which was to set up the China-ASEAN FTA. In November 2001, the leaders of China and ASEAN reached consensus on building closer economic links and announced they would set up an FTA within 10 years, which would be the largest in the world in terms of population. There are also free trade plans between Japan and ASEAN, between the ROK and ASEAN and between China, Japan and the ROK.

A lot of progress has also been made in agriculture, the development and application of new technology and environmental co-operation.

The benefits should not stop just at the economic front.

In fact, given its political significance, what the "10+3" mechanism pushes is more than the co-operation process.

Providing a platform for countries to enhance mutual understanding and co-operation through dialogue, the "10+3" mechanism contributes to the improvement of political relations.

From the viewpoint of development, all the efforts made under the mechanism will promote more stable and intimate political relations in the region.

The process stemmed from pragmatic needs. It is increasingly added to with new co-operation content, which aims to gradually establish and perfect the co-operation mechanism. This is an outstanding feature of the move.

As the process gets under way, there are many favourable factors promoting its continuance.

The common benefit of co-operation has been strengthening closer economic links between East Asian nations and the growth of trade and investment within the region.

At the moment, trade within the region occupies more than 50 per cent of the region's total trade, and is growing faster than in areas outside the region. In the meantime, there has been an obvious growth of investment within the region.

The rapid progress in regional co-operation in other areas has also put pressure on East Asia, which has to accelerate its pace.

There are, of course, many impediments in pushing the links.

The first is building an FTA to cover the whole of East Asia by integrating the current separate processes.

The "10+3" mechanism is currently a forum of dialogue between ASEAN and China, Japan and the ROK. However, in structure, it is in fact three "10+1s" since ASEAN holds dialogues with China, Japan and ROK separately. Hence, it needs to think about how to move from the current "10+3" meetings to "East Asian meetings" and to establish some co-ordinating institutions.

The second is the long-term goal. The "East Asian Community" (EAC) is an alluring prospect.

But given insufficient understanding of the factors involved in regional integration, time will be needed for East Asian nations to reach consensus on long-term goals, and there is also a need for further discussion on the definition of the EAC and on what practical measures to take to promote such goals.

The reality and features of this region must be taken into consideration.

The differences in this region are great, with Japan as the second-largest world economy, China as the world's most populous country and Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar among the world's most under-developed nations.

Between the major nations, in particular between China and Japan, are huge differences in social and economic development, strategy, security concerns and understanding of history. Mutual trust is thus a must in pushing forward the process.

China and Japan, the two main economic motors in the region, can and should join hands to work for this goal.

Source: China Daily