ASEAN is losing influence

[kyawkyaw@xxxxxxx]

                                 Thai foreign minister says ASEAN losing
influence 
                                 03:17 a.m. Jul 13, 1998 Eastern 
                                 By Michael Perry 

                                 SYDNEY, July 13 (Reuters) - Asia's economic
crisis has diminished the
                                 influence of ASEAN, the cornerstone of
regional stability and security, and it
                                 must drop its foundation policy of
non-interference, Thai Foreign Minister
                                 Surin Pitsuwan said. 

                                 Surin said the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) had to
                                 change its 31-year-old policy of
``constructive engagement'' to one of
                                 ``flexible engagement,'' where members
talked openly and frankly about
                                 national economic and political issues
adversely affecting the region. 

                                 ``As we have suffered economic downturn,
and as some leaderships in the
                                 region have been affected, ASEAN's
influence, ASEAN's contribution to
                                 regional affairs has been diminished,''
Surin told a business seminar and
                                 news conference in Sydney. 

                                 ``Constructive engagement has been seen as
a negative approach, a passive
                                 policy,'' Surin said on Monday. 

                                 ``Thailand is now suggesting flexible
engagement on issues that have a
                                 negative impact on others in the region, be
it economic or political,'' he said. 

                                 Asked whether other ASEAN nations supported
this policy change, Surin
                                 said he believed they wanted more details
before coming on board.
                                 ASEAN groups Brunei, Burma, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines,
                                 Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

                                 Surin said Thailand was at the ``heart of
Southeast Asia'' and vulnerable to
                                 its neighbours' problems, citing 100,000
displaced people on its eastern and
                                 western borders and 700,000 illegal workers
in Thailand. 

                                 ``We need to be able to discuss these
issues more openly and frankly
                                 between ourselves, within the family,'' he
said but added: ``We are not going
                                 to interfere with each others' affairs.'' 

                                 Drugs, immigration, the environment, crime
and disease were also areas
                                 ASEAN must tackle on a regional basis, he
said. 

                                 Surin also said Southeast Asian nations
needed to work together to achieve
                                 a regional economic recovery, not merely
seek to save their own national
                                 economies, if Asia was to avoid depression
as warned by the World Bank. 

                                 ``I think we have to avoid that herd
instinct to save ourselves ... If we don't
                                 commit ourselves to a herd instinct ... we
will be able to avoid the deep
                                 recession,'' he said. 

                                 ``If it becomes a herd instinct, it will
become a self-fulfilling prophecy for the
                                 entire region and quite possibly the entire
world economy.'' 

                                 But Surin said ASEAN governments were
becoming preoccupied with
                                 domestic affairs and the organisation was
losing momentum in areas such as
                                 the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). 

                                 ``At this crucial time I fully believe that
it is essential for ASEAN's member
                                 states to intensify their co-operation ...
to ensure the relevance of the
                                 organisation as the regional leader in
foreign policy initiatives and
                                 diplomacy,'' he said. 

                                 The minister said eventually ASEAN would be
like the European Union --
                                 an integrated economic market with free
labour and commodity movements.

                                 He said ASEAN's vision for 2020, when the
organisation would probably
                                 represent 10 nations and more than half a
billion people, was for ``one
                                 democratic, pluralistic Southeast Asia.'' 

                                 ``We foresee a time when it will have to be
one unified, open market --
                                 open regionalism,'' he said. 

                                 ``Thus, ASEAN must gather its inner
strength and resiliency to consolidate
                                 regional unity and rise to the challenge
possibly through such mechanisms as
                                 enhanced region-wide macro-economic policy
co-ordination and more
                                 flexible engagement.'' 

                                 On Monday, Philippine Foreign Affairs
Secretary Domingo Siazon said
                                 ASEAN should stick to its target date for a
regional free trade zone despite
                                 the Asian financial turmoil. 

                                 Under the ASEAN Free Trade Area, members of
the association agreed to
                                 reduce tariffs to between zero to five
percent by 2003. 

                                 Some economic officials of the
administration of new Philippine President
                                 Joseph Estrada had called for a review of
the AFTA deadline in view of the
                                 financial crisis sweeping Asia. 

                                 ``But right now, I don't see any reason why
we should really delay the
                                 implementation of AFTA. All this can be
negotiated but the target date
                                 should be kept.'' He did not elaborate. 

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