After 20 years and an apparent lack of results, sceptics question the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation's relevance. But solutions to issues such as economic imbalances and climate change do not emerge just because world leaders travel halfway across the globe to Singapore to discuss them. The leaders meet unaccompanied by their usual entourage to exchange views candidly without media coverage. In face-to-face bilateral and small group meetings, they can 'feel out' one another. Within the collegial atmosphere of Apec, leaders are more open about what they can and cannot do, making allowance for the political pressures they all face and must respond to.
A former European commissioner noted that European Union meetings are legalistic, whereas Apec meetings are exhortative. The nonbinding nature of Apec decisions creates different conference dynamics. Because the goals are not binding, all can buy in and are prepared to try out programmes and projects that they find of value. Their commitments act as a moral restraint, and peer pressure encourages members to deliver on what they have promised.
During the past 20
years, Apec has given impetus to trade liberalisation, with trade facilitation cutting down compliance costs. And developed countries have assisted developing ones in capacity-building. Much useful work goes on during the year, of which the Leaders' Meeting is only the culmination. Apec has also helped to soften the hard edge of politics in the region.
Wake-up call THE United States is a key member of Apec, but Congress has still not passed the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA). America will lose economic ground to China and find itself excluded from the economic dynamism of East Asia if Congress continues to resist FTAs. During the next two to three decades, the region will grow in economic weight and the balance of power in the world will shift to Asia and the Pacific region. Sir Charles Powell, who served as an officer at the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and as an adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, lamented at the Apec High-Level Symposium that Europe was being left behind.
Big countries with nuclear capabilities are unlikely to go to war, as it would mean mutual destruction. Furthermore, China knows that militarily it is technologically way behind the US, but China's competitive advantage is in the economic arena, with its huge, well-qualified manpower pool and its growing consumer market. One Chinese senior official commented that China's internal market is so large that a company can succeed by just doing well in any one province, which is bigger than many countries. The contest of this century will take place in the Pacific between the US and China, and it will be economic, not
military. America cannot retain its position as the leading global power if it loses influence in the Pacific.
Obama's response REALISING this strategic necessity, US President Barack Obama, during his speech in Tokyo on the eve of the Apec meeting, declared: 'I want everybody in America to know that we have a stake in the future of this region, because what happens here has a direct effect on our lives at home. This is where we engage in much of our commerce and buy many of our goods. And this is where we can export more of our own products and create jobs back home in the process...
'As an Asia-Pacific nation, the US expects to be involved in the discussions that shape the future of this region and to participate fully in appropriate organisations as they are established and evolve.'
The President was also sending a message to his own protectionist Democratic Congress on the vital need to alter course. Mr Obama declared his intention to deepen economic and strategic ties with China. He went on to say that the US 'does not seek to contain China' and would 'pursue pragmatic
cooperation with China on issues of mutual concern'.
He added that 'the rise of a strong, prosperous China can be a source of strength for the community of nations'. Mr Obama reiterated these messages during his visit to China, following the Apec Summit in Singapore.
Regarding trade, Mr Obama affirmed that the US would work towards
an ambitious and balanced Doha agreement. He also announced that the US would be engaging the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries to shape a high-quality FTA that would expand to eight members: current signatories Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand and Chile, with the addition of the US, Australia, Peru and Vietnam. Many in the Asia-Pacific region hope this will be the first step in a process culminating in a free trade area covering the whole region.
Mr Obama also met Asean leaders at the US-Asean Summit to re-emphasise America's commitment to Asia, beyond its relations with China. All the Asean leaders told the President they welcomed engagement with the US. They sent a clear signal to the US that it has many interests - and friends - in South-east Asia.
Apec's 20th anniversary meeting in Singapore was particularly memorable because on this trip to Asia, Mr Obama declared himself to be the first Pacific president of America, and committed the US to remaining in the region, not to contain but to work with and compete against China.
Straits Times 01-11-10 per Lee Kuan Yew
