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中亚南亚经济圈的能与不能
21世纪经济报道 2005-05-25 16:34:50
西域通途·喀什
目前，我们的黄金、锡、银等有色金属产品特别多，但是没有完整的开采工艺，所以也希望中国商人来我国投资加工这些产品。我们非常需要中国的专家和技术。
经济圈的发展都是在要实现“全球化”、“区域经济一体化”的基础上发展的，首要的就是成立自由贸易区，这是全球规律。
对话采写：
本报记者 唐韶葵 吴迪 阴雪
对话嘉宾：
孙壮志 中国社科院俄罗斯东欧中亚研究室主任
丁力 广东省社会科学院科研处处长
卡孜沙木西丁 巴基斯坦西北边境省中巴友谊协会主席
阿里木沙 巴基斯坦比沙瓦尔市市长
阿里巴哈索夫·布依买买提塔吉克斯坦投资和发展商
贸联合社主任
齐达扬娜 哈萨克斯坦工商联合会副主席
5月18日，在喀什地区会议中心召开的“2005’中亚南亚城市经济合作论坛”上，来自中亚南亚国家的政府官员、专家和企业家充分探讨了该地区的市场需求及良好广阔的城市经济合作前景。喀什在中亚南亚经济圈经贸发展的核心价值成为关注焦点。
多边共赢的前提
《21世纪》：如何看待喀什作为中亚南亚经济圈的重心城市概念？
孙壮志：由于目前还没有具体的多边经济合作项目，中亚南亚经济圈只是一个目前在地图上无法具体标示出来的经济圈，是一个概念之中的跨国的多边合作经济圈。
从更广泛的区域经济一体化角度来看，因为地理位置优势，喀什作为中南亚经济圈的重心，更为合适，更有吸引力。相对于上海合作组织等经济合作组织来说，中亚南亚经济圈是具体化的。从喀什角度而言，已经开始有一些国际化动作(例如建立一个公共市场，即自由贸易区)的想法。
阿里巴哈索夫·布依买买提：中国的发展速度在当下是处于世界前列的，以后新疆地区就是连接中国内陆与中亚各国的桥梁，而喀什的发展将带动塔吉克斯坦的发展，因此，我们对于喀什占据中亚南亚经济圈核心地位是赞同的。
我们也是上海合作组织五个成员国之一，我认为建立自由贸易区的前提应当是五国先联合海关、边建等机构拿出可行的合作方案。听说巴基斯坦和伊朗也想加入，相信他们的加入将令组织更加巩固和更具实力。
阿里木沙：中巴两国之间正在酝酿建立自由贸易区，这样一定能刺激供求关系。两国经济有很强的互补性，中国的商人可以获得他们想要的利益，巴基斯坦的商人也可以补充他们的商品种类，还会将烟草、食品、香水等商品带到中国来卖。而对于有可能享受税收优惠的农产品，作为巴基斯坦比沙瓦尔市的市政官员，我认为巴基斯坦的农产品进入中国会使农民受益很多。
齐达扬娜：1996年，我曾组织商业团体到过乌鲁木齐，在我眼里，新疆由于地理位置上的特殊性，给贸易带来了许多便利，在这里做生意也成为哈萨克斯坦人最为惯常的一种选择。事实上，作为工商会的负责人之一，近十年来我一直为了促进两国之间的贸易而努力。通常我们所采用的方法是办展览，几乎每一年都会举办与中国相关的贸易展会。
2003年，我曾到过广州，在这个经济比较发达的城市，我感受到了更为活跃的商业气氛，这一点与新疆很不同，也很具有吸引力。但是，由于路程限制，我们的企业直接渗入的条件还不成熟，而新疆地区在这一点上则有很大优势，这也是新疆地区占了中哈贸易80％份额的主要原因。此外，语言相近的作用也不可忽视，几乎每一个想在中国投资的企业都会告诉我，他们希望离新疆近一点，只有在新疆的投资才能让他们感兴趣。
《21世纪》：喀什的优势是什么？孙壮志：喀什的优势在于，他是新疆最西部的城市，也是南疆地区最大的城市。喀什有888公里长的中国陆地边界，与印度、巴基斯坦、阿富汗、塔吉克斯坦、吉尔吉斯斯坦5国接壤，与乌兹别克斯坦、土库曼斯坦和哈萨克斯坦也非常接近。
所谓“五口通八国”，喀什有四个陆路口岸(卡拉苏口岸、红其拉甫口岸、吐尔尕特和红其拉甫口岸)和一个空中口岸(喀什至伊斯兰堡国际航线)。此外，今年中、巴、塔、吉四国已经签署了联运协议。遗憾的是，四国公路联运至今仍未开通，原因是货运量太小。
卡孜沙木西丁：我这次来有很多目的，首先就是参加第一届中国喀什贸易洽谈会，签署喀什同巴基斯坦城市阿巴特巴德结成兄弟友好城市的协议，因为这两个城市都坐落在丝绸之路上，都有十分悠久的历史，相互之间具有很强的互补性。为了进一步加强我们与喀什的合作伙伴的友好关系，几天前我们双方签署了一个谅解备忘录。
在成功组织了第一届中国喀什贸易洽谈会后，旅游节的举行将再一次引起世界注意。喀什地区的有关领导、旅游节的组织者们为举办这次旅游节所做出的努力是令人钦佩的，他们的工作必将会使不久以后的喀什更加美丽富饶。
巴基斯坦西北边境省将全力支持这次旅游节的举办，我将为喀什方面在西北边境省的首府白沙瓦建立办事机构提供方便，组织两地游客的互访，通过这一系列活动来促进两地旅游业的蓬勃发展。
发展阻力
《21世纪》：喀什如何实现其在中亚南亚经济圈的核心地位？
孙壮志：目前喀什的发展方向就是经贸，立足于长期国际贸易。过去很长一段时间内，喀什担当的是内地商品中转站、集散地的角色，现在到了要提升自己的时候了。
但喀什也面临竞争，基础设施建设上，北疆地区已经走在前面。
而喀什的优势在于文化、旅游，以及水果、动物等特殊产业，对中南亚其他国家而言，还是有产业基础的。
目前喀什需要做的是将自身的发展融于国家的发展战略之中。过去南疆以稳定为主旋律，经济发展相对于北疆地区略为落后，现在喀什可以说是赶上了发展的时机。第一届喀交会的成功举办就表明，喀什正向贸易中心、物流中心甚或商品信息中心一步步迈进。
喀什语言与中亚国家有相通的地方，内地来的企业不会与边境国家交往，而喀什本土商人则可以利用语言优势，获得更多客户与渠道。对于周边经济发展比中国落后的国家而言，喀什能起到一个带动的作用。
以上都是喀什的条件，而喀什要成为这个经济圈的中心，必须要搭建自由贸易区，这是经济区域最初步、最简单的一环。虽然北疆有丰富的油气资源，但大部分城市不与邻国接壤，喀什的通道作用就此得到体现。
丁力：喀什要成为区域经济核心，必须具备较大的经济总量、较高的发展水平以及较强的辐射能力。
喀什目前人均GDP5000元左右，约为全国平均水平的一半，属于经济发展较低的水平。尽管有旅游业与边境贸易等开放型经济活动存在，但在总体上，由于地处边陲，经济与社会的发展，尤其是工业化进程相对独立与封闭。如果不改变这种现状，喀什的经济与社会要在短期内获得快速发展难度很大。积极融入周边地区进而形成以我为核心的中亚经济圈是喀什经济可能快速发展的惟一选择。
很明显，喀什现时提出构建“中亚南亚经济圈核心”的主要意图是开拓或占有中亚市场。浙江“小商品大市场”的经验值得喀什借鉴。只有通过建立覆盖中亚12亿人口的大市场，喀什才能为工业和社会经济发展奠定基础，从而确立核心地位。
喀什还可以学习广东经验，让所有来喀什的人都有赚钱的机会。这样，将走出去和引进来有机结合，将国内市场与国际市场有机结合，将本地力量与外地力量有机结合，最终形成喀什经济发展的合力。另外，喀什要在短期内创造经济奇迹，首先得在特区市场上下功夫，首先需要获得中央政府的大力支持。
《21世纪》：喀什的阻力是什么？孙壮志：中亚南亚经济圈的概念提出后，对喀什的邻国均有吸引力，但这些国家并不重视喀什的中心地位，政治因素是阻力之一。作为一个资源平台，喀什的魅力也许远远不如乌鲁木齐。
喀什的国际贸易状况虽然逐渐显现出其地理优势，但目前还不足以让其成为经济圈内的中心，还需要综合性的优势，例如基础设施、技术人才、对周边国家的认识、对国家政策的解读等等。方向是对的，而到达目标的方式方法有很多样，当下国内经济发展势头很好，这就是契机。
各方对喀什的影响都在涌现。现在新疆地区人民对周边邻国的认识远远大于前几年。周边的伊朗、阿富汗、俄罗斯等国家也在响应中亚南亚经济圈。因此，必须把边境的安全稳定搞好，才能实现多边合作。而喀什要做自由贸易区，必须在关税和销售贸易壁垒等方面具有优势，而这一点，是要国家扶持的。
相对于长三角、珠三角等区域，喀什的国际贸易通道，通向哪里？这是一个长线视野的问题。喀什是国家边陲，统一的国际通道与经贸合作的国际分工，是最需要先确定下来的。很多研究国内经济的专家都提出把国内经验往国际上推，例如技术密集型的日本把技术传到中国东部，而中国东部又把技术往西部、中亚各国转移。但邻国的政策各不相同，例如哈萨克斯坦的知识技能人才很缺乏，但是为了保持原有的人口结构不发生变化，又限制别国的劳力输入。如果中国与之洽谈自由贸易区，最大的困难就是劳动力问题。
上海合作组织所提的第一个经贸合作协议就提到要“贸易投资便利化”，其隐藏的含义就是要实现“人才的自由流动”。而国际经济合作的复杂化，导致了国内经验与国际经验的相悖。
经济圈的发展都是在要实现“全球化”、“区域经济一体化”的基础上发展的，首要的就是成立自由贸易区，这是全球规律。而中亚南亚经济圈的成员国对于这一点似乎认识不深，他们对中国的印象甚至还是苏联时期的。这一发展轨迹，无可厚非，有点像东南亚的发展。
经贸合作征兆
《21世纪》：中亚南亚经济圈内各国的经贸合作有哪些？对各国产生怎样的影响？
阿里巴哈索夫·布依买买提：自2004年开通卡拉苏口岸以来，两国之间就开始了正式的经贸往来。塔吉克斯坦东部的戈尔诺—巴达赫尚自治州与喀什的经贸活动最活跃，通过喀什进入塔国境内的主要是建材、电器、通讯、日用品等。
卡拉苏口岸是临时口岸，开通至今共6个月(2004年5月－2004年10月开通，2005年5月至今开通)，共有400万－500万美元贸易额。今年开通以来(5月15日－5月20日)，恰好有喀交会，中方政府邀请了塔国19人商务团前来参会，我们共购买了30万美元的货品(建材、基建产品、日用百货等)，由中方派了4辆货车(25吨载重／辆)送出境。
塔吉克斯坦与阿富汗之间已经修建一座桥梁，中方可以通过塔吉克斯坦进入阿富汗市场，而塔吉克斯坦则收到了很多电器新产品，尤其是日用品，消费成本也降低了。
阿里木沙：巴基斯坦对中国货物、商品的需求量是很大的。中国商品的质量很好而且便宜，所以巴基斯坦当地居民喜欢购买中国商品，主要有衣服、电器、化妆品、水泥、建材。中国的商品在巴基斯坦的市场占有率大致为20％－25％。
中国和巴基斯坦只是一条边界所隔，可以说是一衣带水，所以对于中国商人做生意来讲是比较容易的。同时现在也有很多巴基斯坦商人到中国的喀什、乌鲁木齐以及内地的义乌、上海等城市，购置大量商品，然后带回巴基斯坦进行销售。巴基斯坦人对中国货物的质量水平很满意。
在经贸发展方面，中国发挥了十分重要的作用，特别是在巴基斯坦的大型工程、市政建设上，中国给予了很大帮助，例如瓜达尔港口的建设。
《21世纪》：阿伯塔巴德市和喀什签订的友好协议意义何在？
卡孜沙木西丁：喀什有很多古迹，是中南亚地区的中心，喀什和巴基斯坦西北边境省阿伯塔巴德市之间相距不远，交通便利。两市缔结为友好地市以后，两个城市之间可以进行很多贸易活动，互相的商品也可以很轻易地进出。
我们同喀什发展友好关系比其他城市更便利，今后两地市将安排活动，在贸易、教育、农业、卫生、特种旅游、文化等方面进行交流，并进行经常性的互访，保持紧密接触，就共同关心的问题交换意见和互通信息。两地签订的友协关系备忘录规定，双方友好协会要致力于协助各自地市政府促进双边友好合作，并为建立更多友好地区、城市做贡献。商业活动在两个城市之间将得到很好的发展，人民可以增进了解，促进中巴的共同利益。同时还有很多互惠互利的协议正在签署之中。
《21世纪》：希望中方与各国下一步达成怎样的经贸合作？
阿里巴哈索夫·布依买买提：目前塔国并没有产品出口到中方，希望今后能出口皮革、药草、高山蜂蜜、彩色石头、大理石等。目前，我们的黄金、锡、银等有色金属产品特别多，但是没有完整的开采工艺，所以也希望中国商人来我国投资加工这些产品。我们非常需要中国的专家和技术。
除了天山山脉、全世界最高最长的帕米尔山脉也在塔国境内。雪山自然资源丰富，有待开采。另外，我们还期望与中方共同发展旅游事业。
卡孜沙木西丁：通过此次喀交会我们发现喀什建设得非常快，根据在喀交会上的观察，我们可以获得有益的信息，以确立今后想到中国来做生意的巴基斯坦人的发展方向，这有利于他们到这里来建立工厂企业以及进行其他商贸活动。虽然喀什的环境很好，但与中国其他大城市相比，在公路交通等基础设施建设方面还有待改进。
齐达扬娜：我们已经考虑在新疆乌鲁木齐成立一个代表机构，可能会派遣一些官员来，也会考虑由一些在中国有经验的商人来代理。
据我所了解，哈国在中国内设厂的企业并不多，其中有一家软饮料公司，名叫RAIMBEK，在新疆的投资很成功。其他与中国合作比较多的企业主要涉及行业集中在重卡、机械、棉花、毛皮、印刷设备以及石油等几个方面。
作为一个为企业服务的机构，我们在实际的交易中获得的利益非常有限，但我们所看见的交易中，确实有很多回报很高的投资，因此，我相信中哈两国之间的贸易还将逐步增加。由此，也需要更多的信息辅助，这也是我们下阶段工作的重点。
图：
孙壮志 资料图片
丁力 谷坊 摄
卡孜沙木西丁 唐韶葵 摄
阿里木沙 唐韶葵 摄
阿里巴哈索夫·布依买买提 唐韶葵 摄
齐达扬娜 唐韶葵 摄
星期日, 五月 29, 2005
星期日, 五月 22, 2005
Scotsman.com Business - Top Stories - Investors can profit by turning Japanese
Scotsman.com Business - Top Stories - Investors can profit by turning Japanese
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Sun 22 May 2005
Investors can profit by turning Japanese
WEALTH WATCH
JULIE DENT
IN RECENT times, investors have been obsessed with China and India, two of the world's most rapidly developing and populous nations. A host of new funds have been launched and one investment trust has even voted to ditch its Latin American investment remit to make a wholesale leap across the globe and recreate itself as an India investment trust.
Listed western companies are at it as well, talking up their "China/India-related" themes, in much the same way that in the late Nineties businesses stressed how they were set to benefit from the internet.
These markets have enormous long-term growth potential and strategically it makes sense to be overweight in these areas. However, on a tactical basis now may not be the most appropriate time to buy.
Global growth is slowing and higher commodity and oil prices are biting. As bearishness has spread across the globe, investors have been quick to take profits and withdraw from riskier areas such as emerging markets. Despite the sharp falls, emerging markets still look vulnerable over the short-term.
So where else should investors be looking for long-term returns? It may surprise some readers that my eye is on Japan. It is an area where the portfolio of British Assets Trust is overweight. This may sound odd to those with long memories of the dramatic rise and fall of Japan in the Eighties, but after a decade of decline I believe it is time for investors to reassess the opportunities afforded by Asia's most mature economy.
While Chinese growth rates outpace Japan, it is important to understand that in a global context the Chinese economy is still relatively small compared with Japan, the world's second largest economy. As the Japanese economy stops shrinking in nominal terms, a domestic demand-led recovery could reawaken this sleeping giant.
The really positive story about Japan has been the gradual resolution of its structural problems. Firms have been quietly reducing excess capacity and exiting unprofitable businesses. Deflation is clearly easing.
Another major past concern for investors has been the slow progress in resolving Japan's nonperforming loan problem and the lack of demand for loans. Here, also, we are seeing improvements. Asset quality at the major banks continues to improve. While progress is hardly rapid, banks are clearly pulling loans from weak companies and putting pressure on them to restructure. Many companies are still repaying debt but there is demand for loans in the economy, driven by smaller, non-manufacturing firms, mainly in the service sector.
The labour market has also become more flexible with an increasing shift to part-time workers, marking a switch away from the "job for life" culture. A new, younger breed of entrepreneurs and company directors is emerging in Japan.
A sign of the renewed vigour in Japan is the pick up in mergers and acquisition activity as companies restructure. This has been further boosted by corporate regulatory changes that will take affect from 2006 which will enable foreign companies to fund acquisitions in Japan through stock swaps, rather than the current situation where purchase can only be made in cash. Many Japanese companies are urgently seeking to get bigger quickly in order to stave off foreign takeovers.
Japanese companies have also recognised the need to shift up the value chain. China is very important in this respect, providing a low-cost manufacturing base while they focus on new product development at home. This is absolutely necessary given Japan's ageing population and the ongoing fall in the number of workers. Despite the recent tensions between the two countries and anti-Japanese demonstrations in Beijing, China is viewed as an opportunity rather than a threat, and now the two can work together for their mutual benefit.
China needs steel, capital equipment and construction machinery - exactly what the Japanese are very good at making. Hence Japanese exports to China are soaring.
While Japan is not without its problems, they are slowly but surely being resolved. There is no doubt that global trends are important, but that is true of all markets. Valuations are reasonable and profitability is improving. Corporate Japan is rising to the challenge and, crucially, the Japanese themselves are starting to believe that the outlook, after a decade of adjustment, is looking brighter.
Julie Dent is head of global equities at F&C Edinburgh and fund manager of the British Assets Trust plc
This article:
http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=558952005
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Sun 22 May 2005
Investors can profit by turning Japanese
WEALTH WATCH
JULIE DENT
IN RECENT times, investors have been obsessed with China and India, two of the world's most rapidly developing and populous nations. A host of new funds have been launched and one investment trust has even voted to ditch its Latin American investment remit to make a wholesale leap across the globe and recreate itself as an India investment trust.
Listed western companies are at it as well, talking up their "China/India-related" themes, in much the same way that in the late Nineties businesses stressed how they were set to benefit from the internet.
These markets have enormous long-term growth potential and strategically it makes sense to be overweight in these areas. However, on a tactical basis now may not be the most appropriate time to buy.
Global growth is slowing and higher commodity and oil prices are biting. As bearishness has spread across the globe, investors have been quick to take profits and withdraw from riskier areas such as emerging markets. Despite the sharp falls, emerging markets still look vulnerable over the short-term.
So where else should investors be looking for long-term returns? It may surprise some readers that my eye is on Japan. It is an area where the portfolio of British Assets Trust is overweight. This may sound odd to those with long memories of the dramatic rise and fall of Japan in the Eighties, but after a decade of decline I believe it is time for investors to reassess the opportunities afforded by Asia's most mature economy.
While Chinese growth rates outpace Japan, it is important to understand that in a global context the Chinese economy is still relatively small compared with Japan, the world's second largest economy. As the Japanese economy stops shrinking in nominal terms, a domestic demand-led recovery could reawaken this sleeping giant.
The really positive story about Japan has been the gradual resolution of its structural problems. Firms have been quietly reducing excess capacity and exiting unprofitable businesses. Deflation is clearly easing.
Another major past concern for investors has been the slow progress in resolving Japan's nonperforming loan problem and the lack of demand for loans. Here, also, we are seeing improvements. Asset quality at the major banks continues to improve. While progress is hardly rapid, banks are clearly pulling loans from weak companies and putting pressure on them to restructure. Many companies are still repaying debt but there is demand for loans in the economy, driven by smaller, non-manufacturing firms, mainly in the service sector.
The labour market has also become more flexible with an increasing shift to part-time workers, marking a switch away from the "job for life" culture. A new, younger breed of entrepreneurs and company directors is emerging in Japan.
A sign of the renewed vigour in Japan is the pick up in mergers and acquisition activity as companies restructure. This has been further boosted by corporate regulatory changes that will take affect from 2006 which will enable foreign companies to fund acquisitions in Japan through stock swaps, rather than the current situation where purchase can only be made in cash. Many Japanese companies are urgently seeking to get bigger quickly in order to stave off foreign takeovers.
Japanese companies have also recognised the need to shift up the value chain. China is very important in this respect, providing a low-cost manufacturing base while they focus on new product development at home. This is absolutely necessary given Japan's ageing population and the ongoing fall in the number of workers. Despite the recent tensions between the two countries and anti-Japanese demonstrations in Beijing, China is viewed as an opportunity rather than a threat, and now the two can work together for their mutual benefit.
China needs steel, capital equipment and construction machinery - exactly what the Japanese are very good at making. Hence Japanese exports to China are soaring.
While Japan is not without its problems, they are slowly but surely being resolved. There is no doubt that global trends are important, but that is true of all markets. Valuations are reasonable and profitability is improving. Corporate Japan is rising to the challenge and, crucially, the Japanese themselves are starting to believe that the outlook, after a decade of adjustment, is looking brighter.
Julie Dent is head of global equities at F&C Edinburgh and fund manager of the British Assets Trust plc
This article:
http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=558952005
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Asian integration: Prospects and challenges
The Manila Bulletin Online May 22, 2005 Opinion/Editorial
TWO Sundays ago, in my inaugural column, I spoke of an emergent "PAX ASIA-PACIFICA," a conglomeration of increasingly integrated Asia-Pacific nations encompassing the whole of both continental and archipelagic Asia — including the Philippines — and stretching as far as the western coast of continental North America, and Australia and New Zealand. A "United States of Asia," akin to a "United States of Europe" or European Union (EU), if there is in fact one to be realized in the not-too-distant future, will be dependent on accelerating such unification or integration – geopolitically and more importantly, at this time, economically – at the same dealing with its inherent obstacles. Such a coming together of Asia is manifested by the emergence of both the ten nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and of China – as a free trade area whose combined populations will soon reach nearly two billion people, almost a third of the world’s population.
Integration is not a novel idea. Long before "globalization" became a byword, political and business leaders already recognized the value of "strength in numbers." And countries sought – in one way or another – to align themselves strategically with other countries, the better to attain their economic and/or political objectives. In Asia, however, countries have tended historically to shun foreign contacts. Japan, China, and Korea – were prime examples of this tendency. During imperialism’s heyday, Japan and China had to be forcibly opened up to foreign trade.
In our time, of course, political, economic, and security groupings are organized no longer by force but by shared interests. Integration nowadays is a compact based on the weighing of costs and benefits. And the main stimulants of regional integration is the development of a global financial market, the establishment of worldwide supply chain networks, and the revolution in information and communications technology (ICT).
Europe and the Americas were the first to form regional blocs. In Asia, political, religious, cultural, geographic, and social diversities prevented integration from taking off so easily. Everywhere, of course, it took visionary leaders to look beyond the inherent differences among countries – and to focus instead on their commonalities.
ASEAN in the beginning
The establishment of ASEAN – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – illustrates this point. In forming ASEAN in August 1967, Southeast Asian statesmen literally took a leap of faith. At the time the five original members of ASEAN agreed to get together, Indonesia was in a virtual state of war with both Singapore and Malaysia as a result of konfrontasi. Meanwhile, Manila and Kuala Lumpur were estranged over Sabah. In fact, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur did not even have formal diplomatic relations when they signed ASEAN’s Charter in Bangkok, on August 8, 1967. While ASEAN’s initial motive was principally political, it responded in due time to its need for economic integration – by approving in principle in 1992, the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).
Now, more than a decade later, the integration of East Asia is slowly becoming a reality. Step-by-step agreements have been arranged that provide neighborly assistance to East Asian countries in distress. For example, we now have the "Chiang Mai Initiative." This makes possible bilateral currency swaps meant to provide countries caught in a financial crisis with additional liquidity to stave off another 1997-type turmoil. Nowadays, bilateral trade pacts not only eliminate trade barriers. Often enough, they also encourage broader areas of cooperation. For instance, the Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) encompasses not only trade and investment but also technical cooperation, information and communications technology, energy, science and technology, human resource development, employment and labor management relations, small and medium enterprises, broadcasting, and tourism. Trade facilitation – through the harmonization of standards, national treatment, and capacity-building – has become the by-word in bilateral and regional economic arrangements. Bilateral agreements are becoming a practical way of overcoming the delays and difficulties besetting multilateral consensus under the World Trade Organization (WTO). Of course, economists still agree that multilateral liberalization is the ideal approach to global trade that mutually benefits the rich and poor countries.
In the hubs-and-spokes model of preferential trading agreements, ASEAN has become the core of East Asian integration. Even Asia’s most powerful economies clearly see the potentials of integration with ASEAN. For one, ASEAN member-states have moved significantly to lower intra-regional tariffs. Already the six earlier ASEAN member-countries have reduced 99% of the products in their Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) inclusion list to within the 0-5% tariff range. The newer members – Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar – have carried out almost 80% their CEPT commitments. Since the two major economies in the East Asian Economic Grouping – Japan and China – are also political rivals, ASEAN is likely to become the centerpiece of East Asia’s emerging preferential trade agreements. ASEAN plus China is firmly in place, with ASEAN plus Japan, then ASEAN plus Korea, and possibly ASEAN plus India standing in the wings. But if it is to play this key role, ASEAN must quickly become more competitive, more unified, and more closely integrated than it is now. Integration is an area where ASEAN has far from reached its full potentials. Indeed, various studies indicate that ASEAN is losing its competitive edge. And the bulk of the blame lies in ASEAN’s inability to integrate fully within its AFTA framework.
In a 2004 study, McKinsey’s Quarterly pointed out emphatically that ASEAN could no longer compete with China and India in labor costs. To regain its competitiveness, the consultancy firm recommended that Southeast Asia economies raise workers’ productivity and cut costs across the supply chain in order to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), boost demand, and increase regional exports. The McKinsey study pointed out that ASEAN must also find a way to reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers that raise the costs of doing business across the region. In addition, ASEAN consumer prices – which, in theory, should converge towards a standard floor level in an integrated free trade area – have continued to be highly divergent with an average variation of 31% across our sub-region. McKinsey’s says ASEAN is paying the price of fragmentation, since the costs of transacting business in Southeast Asia contrast poorly with China’s relatively better-integrated economy. As a result, ASEAN firms cannot fully take advantage of the economies of scale their internal market of nearly half a billion people theoretically gives them. In October 2003, the ASEAN countries agreed to create a Common Market by 2020. The member-states committed themselves to accelerating the pace of integration in eleven priority sectors. They also drew up a "road map" to guide them toward their vision of an ASEAN Economic Community.
China As the Catalyst For Asian Integration
Undoubtedly, China’s fast-growing economic, military, and political power is helping drive Asia toward regional integration. The Asian states all seek to mitigate business competition from China, while benefiting from its illimitable market. The framework for comprehensive economic cooperation that ASEAN and China signed in November 2001 immediately expanded two-way trade. In 2003, China’s exports to ASEAN increased by 31.2%, while its imports grew by 51.8%. The "ASEAN-10 plus China" free trade area is scheduled for completion by the year 2010. By that time, it will encompass a market of more than 1.7 billion people, a collective GDP of almost US$2 trillion, and intra-regional trade of US$1.2 trillion. ASEAN is also negotiating economic partnerships with Japan and Korea, India, and Australia-New Zealand. In this regard, we must always remind ourselves that, despite Japan’s economic slowdown in recent years, it remains as ASEAN’s top export market, its number one source of investment capital and most generous donor of official development assistance (ODA). Japan’s economy still is roughly eight times larger than ASEAN’s – and about five times larger than China’s.
What do these changes in China mean for the rest of us in Asia, especially Southeast Asia? East Asian economies that are complementary with China’s – like those of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and to a lesser degree, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan – are benefitting from China’s integration with the global economy. Given the downturn in ASEAN’s traditional markets, China has emerged as an engine of growth for Southeast Asia. If current trends continue, China will soon surpass America’s total trade with our sub-region. But, the ASEAN countries also face competitive challenges from China itself on many fronts.
The most immediate is competition in labor-intensive industry. China’s labor costs are the lowest in the whole of East Asia – outside of Indonesia’s. Already China has become the pre-eminent producer of labor-intensive manufactured goods in the world. A second front in ASEAN-China relations is the competition for capital. At the beginning of the 1990s, Southeast Asia was taking in 61% of all Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flowing to developing economies in East Asia – while China was receiving only 18%. Ten years later, it is China that was gaining 61% of FDI, while ASEAN’s share had dropped to a mere 17%. In 2002, FDI going to China (which now makes up nearly four-fifths of all the FDI coming into East Asia) surpassed that going to the United States – traditionally the number one destination for migratory capital.
Competition between China and ASEAN for third-country markets has also become intense. The export structure of the more-developed ASEAN economies – just like China’s – is built around electronic products, but China is now both a more efficient and lower-cost producer of electronics. In 1990, China had only a 2% share of American electronics imports. By 2000, its share had reached 9.7% – topping those of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines together. A fourth China-ASEAN arena is competition on the value-added chain. For China’s competitors, therefore, the only viable long-term strategy is to move up the technology ladder – keeping always ahead of China’s lower-cost manufacturing. But the ASEAN economies are finding this difficult – because China is large enough, and sophisticated enough – to be able by itself to enhance every link on the production chain. Since China has such a large domestic market, its corporations enjoy built-in economies of scale. Already, China’s larger corporations are moving up the value chain – into sectors where Chinese products could challenge even the western and Japanese manufacturers that now supply the capital goods for China’s light industries. If it is to compete with China – and with all other comers – ASEAN must raise worker productivity and cut costs across the board. And the only way it could do so is by integrating the Southeast Asian market more effectively than it is doing now – to gain economies of scale, force convergence toward regional best practices, reduce transaction costs, and create a unified market attractive to foreign investors.
Asian integration: Prospects and challenges
The Manila Bulletin Online May 22, 2005 Opinion/Editorial
TWO Sundays ago, in my inaugural column, I spoke of an emergent "PAX ASIA-PACIFICA," a conglomeration of increasingly integrated Asia-Pacific nations encompassing the whole of both continental and archipelagic Asia — including the Philippines — and stretching as far as the western coast of continental North America, and Australia and New Zealand. A "United States of Asia," akin to a "United States of Europe" or European Union (EU), if there is in fact one to be realized in the not-too-distant future, will be dependent on accelerating such unification or integration – geopolitically and more importantly, at this time, economically – at the same dealing with its inherent obstacles. Such a coming together of Asia is manifested by the emergence of both the ten nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and of China – as a free trade area whose combined populations will soon reach nearly two billion people, almost a third of the world’s population.
Integration is not a novel idea. Long before "globalization" became a byword, political and business leaders already recognized the value of "strength in numbers." And countries sought – in one way or another – to align themselves strategically with other countries, the better to attain their economic and/or political objectives. In Asia, however, countries have tended historically to shun foreign contacts. Japan, China, and Korea – were prime examples of this tendency. During imperialism’s heyday, Japan and China had to be forcibly opened up to foreign trade.
In our time, of course, political, economic, and security groupings are organized no longer by force but by shared interests. Integration nowadays is a compact based on the weighing of costs and benefits. And the main stimulants of regional integration is the development of a global financial market, the establishment of worldwide supply chain networks, and the revolution in information and communications technology (ICT).
Europe and the Americas were the first to form regional blocs. In Asia, political, religious, cultural, geographic, and social diversities prevented integration from taking off so easily. Everywhere, of course, it took visionary leaders to look beyond the inherent differences among countries – and to focus instead on their commonalities.
ASEAN in the beginning
The establishment of ASEAN – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – illustrates this point. In forming ASEAN in August 1967, Southeast Asian statesmen literally took a leap of faith. At the time the five original members of ASEAN agreed to get together, Indonesia was in a virtual state of war with both Singapore and Malaysia as a result of konfrontasi. Meanwhile, Manila and Kuala Lumpur were estranged over Sabah. In fact, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur did not even have formal diplomatic relations when they signed ASEAN’s Charter in Bangkok, on August 8, 1967. While ASEAN’s initial motive was principally political, it responded in due time to its need for economic integration – by approving in principle in 1992, the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).
Now, more than a decade later, the integration of East Asia is slowly becoming a reality. Step-by-step agreements have been arranged that provide neighborly assistance to East Asian countries in distress. For example, we now have the "Chiang Mai Initiative." This makes possible bilateral currency swaps meant to provide countries caught in a financial crisis with additional liquidity to stave off another 1997-type turmoil. Nowadays, bilateral trade pacts not only eliminate trade barriers. Often enough, they also encourage broader areas of cooperation. For instance, the Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) encompasses not only trade and investment but also technical cooperation, information and communications technology, energy, science and technology, human resource development, employment and labor management relations, small and medium enterprises, broadcasting, and tourism. Trade facilitation – through the harmonization of standards, national treatment, and capacity-building – has become the by-word in bilateral and regional economic arrangements. Bilateral agreements are becoming a practical way of overcoming the delays and difficulties besetting multilateral consensus under the World Trade Organization (WTO). Of course, economists still agree that multilateral liberalization is the ideal approach to global trade that mutually benefits the rich and poor countries.
In the hubs-and-spokes model of preferential trading agreements, ASEAN has become the core of East Asian integration. Even Asia’s most powerful economies clearly see the potentials of integration with ASEAN. For one, ASEAN member-states have moved significantly to lower intra-regional tariffs. Already the six earlier ASEAN member-countries have reduced 99% of the products in their Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) inclusion list to within the 0-5% tariff range. The newer members – Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar – have carried out almost 80% their CEPT commitments. Since the two major economies in the East Asian Economic Grouping – Japan and China – are also political rivals, ASEAN is likely to become the centerpiece of East Asia’s emerging preferential trade agreements. ASEAN plus China is firmly in place, with ASEAN plus Japan, then ASEAN plus Korea, and possibly ASEAN plus India standing in the wings. But if it is to play this key role, ASEAN must quickly become more competitive, more unified, and more closely integrated than it is now. Integration is an area where ASEAN has far from reached its full potentials. Indeed, various studies indicate that ASEAN is losing its competitive edge. And the bulk of the blame lies in ASEAN’s inability to integrate fully within its AFTA framework.
In a 2004 study, McKinsey’s Quarterly pointed out emphatically that ASEAN could no longer compete with China and India in labor costs. To regain its competitiveness, the consultancy firm recommended that Southeast Asia economies raise workers’ productivity and cut costs across the supply chain in order to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), boost demand, and increase regional exports. The McKinsey study pointed out that ASEAN must also find a way to reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers that raise the costs of doing business across the region. In addition, ASEAN consumer prices – which, in theory, should converge towards a standard floor level in an integrated free trade area – have continued to be highly divergent with an average variation of 31% across our sub-region. McKinsey’s says ASEAN is paying the price of fragmentation, since the costs of transacting business in Southeast Asia contrast poorly with China’s relatively better-integrated economy. As a result, ASEAN firms cannot fully take advantage of the economies of scale their internal market of nearly half a billion people theoretically gives them. In October 2003, the ASEAN countries agreed to create a Common Market by 2020. The member-states committed themselves to accelerating the pace of integration in eleven priority sectors. They also drew up a "road map" to guide them toward their vision of an ASEAN Economic Community.
China As the Catalyst For Asian Integration
Undoubtedly, China’s fast-growing economic, military, and political power is helping drive Asia toward regional integration. The Asian states all seek to mitigate business competition from China, while benefiting from its illimitable market. The framework for comprehensive economic cooperation that ASEAN and China signed in November 2001 immediately expanded two-way trade. In 2003, China’s exports to ASEAN increased by 31.2%, while its imports grew by 51.8%. The "ASEAN-10 plus China" free trade area is scheduled for completion by the year 2010. By that time, it will encompass a market of more than 1.7 billion people, a collective GDP of almost US$2 trillion, and intra-regional trade of US$1.2 trillion. ASEAN is also negotiating economic partnerships with Japan and Korea, India, and Australia-New Zealand. In this regard, we must always remind ourselves that, despite Japan’s economic slowdown in recent years, it remains as ASEAN’s top export market, its number one source of investment capital and most generous donor of official development assistance (ODA). Japan’s economy still is roughly eight times larger than ASEAN’s – and about five times larger than China’s.
What do these changes in China mean for the rest of us in Asia, especially Southeast Asia? East Asian economies that are complementary with China’s – like those of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and to a lesser degree, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan – are benefitting from China’s integration with the global economy. Given the downturn in ASEAN’s traditional markets, China has emerged as an engine of growth for Southeast Asia. If current trends continue, China will soon surpass America’s total trade with our sub-region. But, the ASEAN countries also face competitive challenges from China itself on many fronts.
The most immediate is competition in labor-intensive industry. China’s labor costs are the lowest in the whole of East Asia – outside of Indonesia’s. Already China has become the pre-eminent producer of labor-intensive manufactured goods in the world. A second front in ASEAN-China relations is the competition for capital. At the beginning of the 1990s, Southeast Asia was taking in 61% of all Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flowing to developing economies in East Asia – while China was receiving only 18%. Ten years later, it is China that was gaining 61% of FDI, while ASEAN’s share had dropped to a mere 17%. In 2002, FDI going to China (which now makes up nearly four-fifths of all the FDI coming into East Asia) surpassed that going to the United States – traditionally the number one destination for migratory capital.
Competition between China and ASEAN for third-country markets has also become intense. The export structure of the more-developed ASEAN economies – just like China’s – is built around electronic products, but China is now both a more efficient and lower-cost producer of electronics. In 1990, China had only a 2% share of American electronics imports. By 2000, its share had reached 9.7% – topping those of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines together. A fourth China-ASEAN arena is competition on the value-added chain. For China’s competitors, therefore, the only viable long-term strategy is to move up the technology ladder – keeping always ahead of China’s lower-cost manufacturing. But the ASEAN economies are finding this difficult – because China is large enough, and sophisticated enough – to be able by itself to enhance every link on the production chain. Since China has such a large domestic market, its corporations enjoy built-in economies of scale. Already, China’s larger corporations are moving up the value chain – into sectors where Chinese products could challenge even the western and Japanese manufacturers that now supply the capital goods for China’s light industries. If it is to compete with China – and with all other comers – ASEAN must raise worker productivity and cut costs across the board. And the only way it could do so is by integrating the Southeast Asian market more effectively than it is doing now – to gain economies of scale, force convergence toward regional best practices, reduce transaction costs, and create a unified market attractive to foreign investors.
星期三, 四月 27, 2005
Xinhua - English
Xinhua - English
ASEAN, EU eye free trade agreement
www.chinaview.cn 2005-04-27 18:09:27
HA LONG CITY, Vietnam, April 27 (Xinhuanet) -- The ASEAN and the EU agreed Wednesday to conduct a joint feasibility study to look into a potential free trade agreement (FTA) between the two blocks, and their future economic cooperation orientations.
"We agreed to deepen and intensify work together to boost ASEAN-EU economic cooperation. I'm pleased to add my support to our agreement this morning to undertake a high-level feasibility study for a FTA," EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said at a press briefing after the 6th Consultation between ASEAN Economic Ministers and the commissioner concluded in the northern city of Ha Long.
A working group with representatives from the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would make specific reports by the end of this year, he said, noting that the "Trans-Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiative" (TREATI), initiated by the EU in 2003 to beef up trade and investment ties between two regions, will act as a pillar of their cooperation ties in the future.
Under the TREATI, the cooperation initially centers on information exchange, mutual understanding enhancement and technical assistance for ASEAN. Economic ministers from ASEAN members, at the consultation, agreed to have TREATI focus on policy dialogue and regulatory initiatives while other ASEAN-EU programs would complement TREATI through provisions of technical assistance, Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said at the briefing.
She said that, during the consultation, the ministers exchanged views on progress on the economic integration initiatives in the two blocks, including the progress made in working towards the realization of the ASEAN Economic Community, developments in the implementation of the 11 priority integration sectors and the status of ASEAN's FTA negotiations with dialogue partners, including Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and China.
The ministers agreed that ASEAN members would accelerate the integration process of farm produce, electronics, seafood and woodwork, of which 4 out of 11 sectors stated in the ASEAN Framework Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors, inked in 2004 in Laos. The 11 sectors are agro-based products, air travel, automotive, e-ASEAN, electronics, fisheries, healthcare, rubber-based products, textile and apparels, tourism and wood-based products.
The ministers also showed their continued support for the early accession of Vietnam and Laos to the World Trade Organization, the Indonesian Trade Minister noted.
Now, ASEAN's export to the EU accounts for some 15 percent of ASEAN's total export, and its import from the EU about 12 percent. Up to 25 percent of foreign direct investment in the ASEAN comes from the EU.
The ASEAN comprises of Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines. They are expected to post average economic growth of 5.7 percent this year. Enditem
ASEAN, EU eye free trade agreement
www.chinaview.cn 2005-04-27 18:09:27
HA LONG CITY, Vietnam, April 27 (Xinhuanet) -- The ASEAN and the EU agreed Wednesday to conduct a joint feasibility study to look into a potential free trade agreement (FTA) between the two blocks, and their future economic cooperation orientations.
"We agreed to deepen and intensify work together to boost ASEAN-EU economic cooperation. I'm pleased to add my support to our agreement this morning to undertake a high-level feasibility study for a FTA," EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said at a press briefing after the 6th Consultation between ASEAN Economic Ministers and the commissioner concluded in the northern city of Ha Long.
A working group with representatives from the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would make specific reports by the end of this year, he said, noting that the "Trans-Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiative" (TREATI), initiated by the EU in 2003 to beef up trade and investment ties between two regions, will act as a pillar of their cooperation ties in the future.
Under the TREATI, the cooperation initially centers on information exchange, mutual understanding enhancement and technical assistance for ASEAN. Economic ministers from ASEAN members, at the consultation, agreed to have TREATI focus on policy dialogue and regulatory initiatives while other ASEAN-EU programs would complement TREATI through provisions of technical assistance, Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said at the briefing.
She said that, during the consultation, the ministers exchanged views on progress on the economic integration initiatives in the two blocks, including the progress made in working towards the realization of the ASEAN Economic Community, developments in the implementation of the 11 priority integration sectors and the status of ASEAN's FTA negotiations with dialogue partners, including Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and China.
The ministers agreed that ASEAN members would accelerate the integration process of farm produce, electronics, seafood and woodwork, of which 4 out of 11 sectors stated in the ASEAN Framework Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors, inked in 2004 in Laos. The 11 sectors are agro-based products, air travel, automotive, e-ASEAN, electronics, fisheries, healthcare, rubber-based products, textile and apparels, tourism and wood-based products.
The ministers also showed their continued support for the early accession of Vietnam and Laos to the World Trade Organization, the Indonesian Trade Minister noted.
Now, ASEAN's export to the EU accounts for some 15 percent of ASEAN's total export, and its import from the EU about 12 percent. Up to 25 percent of foreign direct investment in the ASEAN comes from the EU.
The ASEAN comprises of Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines. They are expected to post average economic growth of 5.7 percent this year. Enditem
asahi.com:EDITORIAL: Asian FTA negotiations: It's up to Tokyo to set a positive example�-�ENGLISH
asahi.com:EDITORIAL: Asian FTA negotiations: It's up to Tokyo to set a positive example�-�ENGLISHasahi.com > ENGLISH > Opinion,Editorial
EDITORIAL: Asian FTA negotiations: It's up to Tokyo to set a positive example
04/26/2005
Japan and Thailand have run into difficulties in the final stage of negotiations for a free trade agreement. Japan attaches importance to trade agreements with East Asian countries, and Thailand is pivotal in that sense. It is hoped that the accord between Japan and Thailand will be a meaningful one.
Among the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Thailand is by far the biggest exporter of agricultural and fisheries products to Japan. Moreover, Thailand is intent on transforming itself into an industrial country centered on automobile production and the iron and steel industry. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that his country aims at becoming a ``Detroit in Asia.''
Since the mid-1980s, Japanese makers of automobiles and electric appliances have made huge investments in Thailand. In fact, Thailand has accepted more direct investment from the Japanese manufacturers of cars and electric appliances than any other country.
The focal point in negotiations between Japan and Thailand is on which items should be exempt from tariffs. Bangkok initially suggested that Japan scrap tariffs on Thai rice, sugar and chicken. But Japan wanted to cancel its tariffs on imported steel products and automobiles.
Japan finds it practically impossible to scrap its tariff on imported rice as well as to liberalize sugar imports, which would hurt the economies of Okinawa and Hokkaido.
Thailand subsequently reformulated its demand, and it is now likely that the two countries will agree to minimum liberalization including the lowering of Japan's tariff on chicken in the agricultural area. As a quid pro quo, Thailand has asked Japan to soften its demand for an elimination of Bangkok's tariffs on Japanese exports of industrial products.
The two countries may be able to conclude negotiations through the expansion of minimum liberalization measures. And grilled chicken and papaya and other fruits imported from Thailand may become cheaper.
But the agreement as such, which has the least deregulation on trade, will be counterproductive in Japan's trade negotiations with other countries in the days ahead.
Japan is about to begin talks with ASEAN as a whole, including Vietnam and four other countries with which Japan has not yet had bilateral talks. Japan and Indonesia have already agreed to begin trade negotiations separately. In the run-up to trade talks with those countries, Japan should not set a bad precedent by signing a poor agreement with Thailand.
China has already taken an aggressive stance by liberalizing imports of some agricultural products from ASEAN countries. China's strategy is to win over other Asian countries by opening up its huge market of 1.3 billion people to those countries.
Japan should take advantage of its own strengths. To realize wide-ranging cooperative operations with other countries, Japan should offer cooperative programs that will enhance the other parties' competitiveness. An improvement of the rules of foreign investment in other countries is an important task, which will also be to the advantage of Japan.
We should try to increase mutual benefits in the long term by making fine-tuned approaches to our trading partners' requirements, which differ widely according to their stage of economic development.
To increase the number of countries that will understand such a strategy, it is essential for Japan to demonstrate tangible achievements in free trade in the field of agricultural products. While the new round of trade negotiations within the framework of the World Trade Organization still remains stalemated, Japan's high import tariffs on rice and other items cannot be tolerated indefinitely.
If Japan, an advanced industrial country, intends to have its trading partners swallow a bitter pill, it should set an example by taking it first. Japan should renew discussions with Thailand on rice imports at an early date.
A meaningful free trade agreement should be sought to realize an ``East Asia Community'' that Japan aims at creating.
--The Asahi Shimbun, April 25(IHT/Asahi: April 26,2005)
EDITORIAL: Asian FTA negotiations: It's up to Tokyo to set a positive example
04/26/2005
Japan and Thailand have run into difficulties in the final stage of negotiations for a free trade agreement. Japan attaches importance to trade agreements with East Asian countries, and Thailand is pivotal in that sense. It is hoped that the accord between Japan and Thailand will be a meaningful one.
Among the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Thailand is by far the biggest exporter of agricultural and fisheries products to Japan. Moreover, Thailand is intent on transforming itself into an industrial country centered on automobile production and the iron and steel industry. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that his country aims at becoming a ``Detroit in Asia.''
Since the mid-1980s, Japanese makers of automobiles and electric appliances have made huge investments in Thailand. In fact, Thailand has accepted more direct investment from the Japanese manufacturers of cars and electric appliances than any other country.
The focal point in negotiations between Japan and Thailand is on which items should be exempt from tariffs. Bangkok initially suggested that Japan scrap tariffs on Thai rice, sugar and chicken. But Japan wanted to cancel its tariffs on imported steel products and automobiles.
Japan finds it practically impossible to scrap its tariff on imported rice as well as to liberalize sugar imports, which would hurt the economies of Okinawa and Hokkaido.
Thailand subsequently reformulated its demand, and it is now likely that the two countries will agree to minimum liberalization including the lowering of Japan's tariff on chicken in the agricultural area. As a quid pro quo, Thailand has asked Japan to soften its demand for an elimination of Bangkok's tariffs on Japanese exports of industrial products.
The two countries may be able to conclude negotiations through the expansion of minimum liberalization measures. And grilled chicken and papaya and other fruits imported from Thailand may become cheaper.
But the agreement as such, which has the least deregulation on trade, will be counterproductive in Japan's trade negotiations with other countries in the days ahead.
Japan is about to begin talks with ASEAN as a whole, including Vietnam and four other countries with which Japan has not yet had bilateral talks. Japan and Indonesia have already agreed to begin trade negotiations separately. In the run-up to trade talks with those countries, Japan should not set a bad precedent by signing a poor agreement with Thailand.
China has already taken an aggressive stance by liberalizing imports of some agricultural products from ASEAN countries. China's strategy is to win over other Asian countries by opening up its huge market of 1.3 billion people to those countries.
Japan should take advantage of its own strengths. To realize wide-ranging cooperative operations with other countries, Japan should offer cooperative programs that will enhance the other parties' competitiveness. An improvement of the rules of foreign investment in other countries is an important task, which will also be to the advantage of Japan.
We should try to increase mutual benefits in the long term by making fine-tuned approaches to our trading partners' requirements, which differ widely according to their stage of economic development.
To increase the number of countries that will understand such a strategy, it is essential for Japan to demonstrate tangible achievements in free trade in the field of agricultural products. While the new round of trade negotiations within the framework of the World Trade Organization still remains stalemated, Japan's high import tariffs on rice and other items cannot be tolerated indefinitely.
If Japan, an advanced industrial country, intends to have its trading partners swallow a bitter pill, it should set an example by taking it first. Japan should renew discussions with Thailand on rice imports at an early date.
A meaningful free trade agreement should be sought to realize an ``East Asia Community'' that Japan aims at creating.
--The Asahi Shimbun, April 25(IHT/Asahi: April 26,2005)
星期一, 四月 25, 2005
Integration helps deliver Asian dream
Integration helps deliver Asian dream
Integration helps deliver Asian dream
China Daily Updated: 2005-04-23 06:04
The Annual Report 2005, released yesterday at Boao Forum for Asia in South China's Hainan Province, depicts a phenomenal trend to which not only Asian nations but also the rest of the world must adapt.
More evident than ever, the economic integration is promoting the upgrading of Asia into an increasingly important player in the world economy.
It is a remarkable achievement that developing Asian economies have increased their share in the world aggregate GDP from 15 per cent in 1990 to 23.8 per cent in 2003. The continent produced 38 per cent of world output that year.
More amazing is the prospect that, if the growth momentum continues, Asia as a whole will soon contribute nearly half of the world output.
Surely, this will represent an unprecedented shift in the focus of the world economy in modern historical terms.
However, for Asian nations to ride the trend, it is more important to understand the driving force behind it rather than simply to take it for granted.
A strong desire shared by the Asian people to accelerate economic development and social progress is most certainly one of the underlying causes of the emergence of Asia in recent years.
But as the report noted, the growth in the share of Asian economies in world trade and output was not uniform across the area over the last 20 years. The largest increase in output and trade share accrued to East Asian countries.
Robust growth of the Chinese economy has fed through to the rest of East Asia to a degree, which explains the disparity in the pace of growth between various parts of the continent.
Yet, the more fundamental reason lies in the impressive expansion of East Asian intra-trade based on the growing symbiosis of export and import composition of countries in the group.
It is noteworthy that East Asian intra-regional trade grew even more rapidly than its global trade; its intra-trade share in world trade went up threefold from 2.2 per cent to 6.5 per cent over 1985-2001.
The fact that trade between China and individual East Asian countries is considerably greater than what should be expected based on their proximity and relative size in world trade reflects a growing interdependence between them. That is clearly a result of the active participation of these countries in the international vertically integrated production sharing across Asia.
This is an important finding that all Asian nations should take to heart if the growth miracle of Asia will be sustained to deliver common prosperity.
Although the success of the last 20 years does not guarantee smooth sailing for the Asia economy in the coming decades, the experience accumulated in one part of the continent should allow Asian nations to learn from and contribute to one another.
A key message the report has helped drive home is that co-ordinated policy approaches are essential to the emergence of integrated international production systems in Asia.
Rapid development will spread across Asia only when greater economic and political co-operation strengthen trade ties in both multilateral and regional frameworks.
(China Daily 04/23/2005 page4)
Integration helps deliver Asian dream
China Daily Updated: 2005-04-23 06:04
The Annual Report 2005, released yesterday at Boao Forum for Asia in South China's Hainan Province, depicts a phenomenal trend to which not only Asian nations but also the rest of the world must adapt.
More evident than ever, the economic integration is promoting the upgrading of Asia into an increasingly important player in the world economy.
It is a remarkable achievement that developing Asian economies have increased their share in the world aggregate GDP from 15 per cent in 1990 to 23.8 per cent in 2003. The continent produced 38 per cent of world output that year.
More amazing is the prospect that, if the growth momentum continues, Asia as a whole will soon contribute nearly half of the world output.
Surely, this will represent an unprecedented shift in the focus of the world economy in modern historical terms.
However, for Asian nations to ride the trend, it is more important to understand the driving force behind it rather than simply to take it for granted.
A strong desire shared by the Asian people to accelerate economic development and social progress is most certainly one of the underlying causes of the emergence of Asia in recent years.
But as the report noted, the growth in the share of Asian economies in world trade and output was not uniform across the area over the last 20 years. The largest increase in output and trade share accrued to East Asian countries.
Robust growth of the Chinese economy has fed through to the rest of East Asia to a degree, which explains the disparity in the pace of growth between various parts of the continent.
Yet, the more fundamental reason lies in the impressive expansion of East Asian intra-trade based on the growing symbiosis of export and import composition of countries in the group.
It is noteworthy that East Asian intra-regional trade grew even more rapidly than its global trade; its intra-trade share in world trade went up threefold from 2.2 per cent to 6.5 per cent over 1985-2001.
The fact that trade between China and individual East Asian countries is considerably greater than what should be expected based on their proximity and relative size in world trade reflects a growing interdependence between them. That is clearly a result of the active participation of these countries in the international vertically integrated production sharing across Asia.
This is an important finding that all Asian nations should take to heart if the growth miracle of Asia will be sustained to deliver common prosperity.
Although the success of the last 20 years does not guarantee smooth sailing for the Asia economy in the coming decades, the experience accumulated in one part of the continent should allow Asian nations to learn from and contribute to one another.
A key message the report has helped drive home is that co-ordinated policy approaches are essential to the emergence of integrated international production systems in Asia.
Rapid development will spread across Asia only when greater economic and political co-operation strengthen trade ties in both multilateral and regional frameworks.
(China Daily 04/23/2005 page4)
Hu visit se
???????-??胡锦涛访问东南亚 "南南合作"继往开来
21世纪经济报道 2005-04-20 16:19:36
最后截稿
本报记者 刘波 北京报道
首次亚非会议是要解决民族独立问题，这次50周年峰会则是要解决发展和地区冲突问题，建立稳定的南南合作机制。
4月20至28日，中国国家主席胡锦涛将应邀出访文莱、印度尼西亚和菲律宾三国，同时将出席在印尼首都雅加达举行的纪念万隆会议50周年的亚非峰会。此次亚非峰会由印尼和南非共同发起，有50个亚非国家参与。这是胡锦涛今年的首次出访，表明中国新领导层对发展与东南亚关系的重视。
1955年在印尼万隆举行了有29国参加的首次亚非会议，会议提出“团结、友谊、合作”的万隆精神和处理国家关系的“万隆十项原则”，当时是亚非发展中国家首次召集的国际会议。中国社会科学院世界经济与政治研究所研究员沈骥如对本报记者表示，参加亚非峰会作为胡锦涛此行的主要目的，将非常有助于在新时代下继承亚非国家团结、南南合作的传统。
“南南合作”开新局
外交部副部长武大伟在4月18日外交部举行的吹风会上介绍，中国同亚非国家贸易额去年达到4629亿美元，同比增长35.5％。中国进口的能源、资源主要来自亚非国家，中国企业的境外投资活动也主要集中在亚非国家。据透露，此次会议将签署《亚非新型战略伙伴关系宣言》，发表《亚非领导人减灾联合声明》。
沈骥如认为，在经济全球化进程中，有些发展中国家的经济发展出现了分化，中、印、东盟等，成为世界经济中新的亮点；而有些国家则被边缘化。为了推动整体发展，发展中国家之间应当进行良好的交流，将南南合作落实到行动上。
沈骥如解释称，首次亚非会议是要解决民族独立问题，今天则是要解决发展和地区冲突问题，这将是一个继往开来的会议。中、印、东盟在快速发展、实力增强的同时，有可能对发展滞后的一些国家提供帮助。中国原材料需求巨大，很多亚非国家则需要投资和经营上的合作，相互促进可以实现双赢。“这也是去年胡锦涛访问南美所实现的。”
他认为，非洲也有非常丰富的资源，但缺乏资本和技术，中印东盟都有到非洲进行投资和发展的条件，可以实现互补性和双赢。同时亚洲要实现内部安定，本次会议也可以成为解决地区冲突交流经验的平台。建立稳定的南南合作机制，对于实现联合国千年计划提出的减贫和可持续发展目标也是很好的机会。
加强东盟合作之旅
胡锦涛此行同时也是一次加强中国与东盟合作之旅。2003年10月，中国与东盟建立面向和平与繁荣的战略伙伴关系，中国－东盟自由贸易区计划也已经启动，东盟还分别与中国以及中、日、韩三国确了“10＋1”与“10＋3”合作机制。
中国－东盟贸易从1990年以来以年平均20％的速度增长，2004年中国与东盟国家贸易总额达1058亿美元，比上年增长35％。东盟成为继美国、欧盟、日本之后的中国第四大贸易伙伴，也是发展中国家里最大的贸易伙伴。2004年中国10大贸易伙伴中的6个位于东南亚，占中国贸易总额的一半以上。
4月11日的东盟10国外长会议还宣布将在12月于马来西亚首都吉隆坡召开的首次东亚峰会，包括东盟与中、日、韩共13国。10国外长表示东盟应在东亚峰会中发挥核心和主要驱动作用。东盟外长表示要制定东盟宪章，以实现在2020年前建立东盟共同体的目标。
作为在胡锦涛此行的第一站，文莱对中国的重要意义主要在于能源方面。文莱的石油储量和产量在东南亚仅次于印尼，同时是世界第4大液化天然气生产国。文莱可以加强双边合作，能源方面的合作也可以更上一层楼。
中国驻文莱大使杨燕怡4月16日在接受文莱国内媒体采访时表示，此行中两国将签订多项协议，包括取消外交签证，以及信息通讯科技(ICT)、公共健康、能源和人员交流等方面的合作。在信息通讯科技方面，据悉深圳华为将就提供和运营3G系统与一个文莱公司签约。
胡锦涛2004年在智利出席APEC会议期间与印尼总统苏希洛会谈中，已就两国建立战略伙伴关系达成共识。访问印尼期间，胡锦涛将与苏希洛签署联合宣言，建立中国印尼战略伙伴关系。
据印尼国内媒体报道，中印战略合作伙伴关系协定将在中国和东盟2003年的战略合作伙伴关系协定基础上订立，包括在经济、社会、文化和安全事务等事项上的合作。印尼外交部发言人近期表示，双方的这一合作将不是排他性的，不针对任何第三国。
沈骥如表示，中国和东盟已经建立了战略合作伙伴关系，作为东盟中有2亿人口的最大成员国，和印尼建立这一关系对于进一步密切合作有很大促进。
菲律宾总统阿罗约近期曾表示，中菲关系正处于发展的黄金时期。中国和菲律宾已经达成战略性合作关系，去年阿罗约竞选连任总统后第一个访问的国家就是中国。
沈骥如说，近年菲律宾由于长期的游击武装和恐怖活动制约了经济发展，这次访问有助于双方在反恐、社会合作和经济发展方面的合作。他说，阿罗约对菲军方在南海的一些过激行动还是有很多制约的。现在两国对和平解决纷争，共同开发南海资源已经有了共识。因此趁着亚非会议的东风，进一步发展中菲合作也是良好的契机。
21世纪经济报道 2005-04-20 16:19:36
最后截稿
本报记者 刘波 北京报道
首次亚非会议是要解决民族独立问题，这次50周年峰会则是要解决发展和地区冲突问题，建立稳定的南南合作机制。
4月20至28日，中国国家主席胡锦涛将应邀出访文莱、印度尼西亚和菲律宾三国，同时将出席在印尼首都雅加达举行的纪念万隆会议50周年的亚非峰会。此次亚非峰会由印尼和南非共同发起，有50个亚非国家参与。这是胡锦涛今年的首次出访，表明中国新领导层对发展与东南亚关系的重视。
1955年在印尼万隆举行了有29国参加的首次亚非会议，会议提出“团结、友谊、合作”的万隆精神和处理国家关系的“万隆十项原则”，当时是亚非发展中国家首次召集的国际会议。中国社会科学院世界经济与政治研究所研究员沈骥如对本报记者表示，参加亚非峰会作为胡锦涛此行的主要目的，将非常有助于在新时代下继承亚非国家团结、南南合作的传统。
“南南合作”开新局
外交部副部长武大伟在4月18日外交部举行的吹风会上介绍，中国同亚非国家贸易额去年达到4629亿美元，同比增长35.5％。中国进口的能源、资源主要来自亚非国家，中国企业的境外投资活动也主要集中在亚非国家。据透露，此次会议将签署《亚非新型战略伙伴关系宣言》，发表《亚非领导人减灾联合声明》。
沈骥如认为，在经济全球化进程中，有些发展中国家的经济发展出现了分化，中、印、东盟等，成为世界经济中新的亮点；而有些国家则被边缘化。为了推动整体发展，发展中国家之间应当进行良好的交流，将南南合作落实到行动上。
沈骥如解释称，首次亚非会议是要解决民族独立问题，今天则是要解决发展和地区冲突问题，这将是一个继往开来的会议。中、印、东盟在快速发展、实力增强的同时，有可能对发展滞后的一些国家提供帮助。中国原材料需求巨大，很多亚非国家则需要投资和经营上的合作，相互促进可以实现双赢。“这也是去年胡锦涛访问南美所实现的。”
他认为，非洲也有非常丰富的资源，但缺乏资本和技术，中印东盟都有到非洲进行投资和发展的条件，可以实现互补性和双赢。同时亚洲要实现内部安定，本次会议也可以成为解决地区冲突交流经验的平台。建立稳定的南南合作机制，对于实现联合国千年计划提出的减贫和可持续发展目标也是很好的机会。
加强东盟合作之旅
胡锦涛此行同时也是一次加强中国与东盟合作之旅。2003年10月，中国与东盟建立面向和平与繁荣的战略伙伴关系，中国－东盟自由贸易区计划也已经启动，东盟还分别与中国以及中、日、韩三国确了“10＋1”与“10＋3”合作机制。
中国－东盟贸易从1990年以来以年平均20％的速度增长，2004年中国与东盟国家贸易总额达1058亿美元，比上年增长35％。东盟成为继美国、欧盟、日本之后的中国第四大贸易伙伴，也是发展中国家里最大的贸易伙伴。2004年中国10大贸易伙伴中的6个位于东南亚，占中国贸易总额的一半以上。
4月11日的东盟10国外长会议还宣布将在12月于马来西亚首都吉隆坡召开的首次东亚峰会，包括东盟与中、日、韩共13国。10国外长表示东盟应在东亚峰会中发挥核心和主要驱动作用。东盟外长表示要制定东盟宪章，以实现在2020年前建立东盟共同体的目标。
作为在胡锦涛此行的第一站，文莱对中国的重要意义主要在于能源方面。文莱的石油储量和产量在东南亚仅次于印尼，同时是世界第4大液化天然气生产国。文莱可以加强双边合作，能源方面的合作也可以更上一层楼。
中国驻文莱大使杨燕怡4月16日在接受文莱国内媒体采访时表示，此行中两国将签订多项协议，包括取消外交签证，以及信息通讯科技(ICT)、公共健康、能源和人员交流等方面的合作。在信息通讯科技方面，据悉深圳华为将就提供和运营3G系统与一个文莱公司签约。
胡锦涛2004年在智利出席APEC会议期间与印尼总统苏希洛会谈中，已就两国建立战略伙伴关系达成共识。访问印尼期间，胡锦涛将与苏希洛签署联合宣言，建立中国印尼战略伙伴关系。
据印尼国内媒体报道，中印战略合作伙伴关系协定将在中国和东盟2003年的战略合作伙伴关系协定基础上订立，包括在经济、社会、文化和安全事务等事项上的合作。印尼外交部发言人近期表示，双方的这一合作将不是排他性的，不针对任何第三国。
沈骥如表示，中国和东盟已经建立了战略合作伙伴关系，作为东盟中有2亿人口的最大成员国，和印尼建立这一关系对于进一步密切合作有很大促进。
菲律宾总统阿罗约近期曾表示，中菲关系正处于发展的黄金时期。中国和菲律宾已经达成战略性合作关系，去年阿罗约竞选连任总统后第一个访问的国家就是中国。
沈骥如说，近年菲律宾由于长期的游击武装和恐怖活动制约了经济发展，这次访问有助于双方在反恐、社会合作和经济发展方面的合作。他说，阿罗约对菲军方在南海的一些过激行动还是有很多制约的。现在两国对和平解决纷争，共同开发南海资源已经有了共识。因此趁着亚非会议的东风，进一步发展中菲合作也是良好的契机。
星期日, 四月 24, 2005
Radio Australia - News - Philippines says Burma should not host ASEAN
ABC Radio Australia
Radio Australia - News - Philippines says Burma should not host ASEAN
[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1349990.htm]
Last Updated 20/04/2005, 23:19:39
The Philippine Senate has unanimously approved a resolution calling for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to strip Burma of the group's chairmanship next year.
The resolution says Burma should NOT assume the ASEAN chairmanship unless it complies with the principles of human rights law, particularly the freedom from house arrest of pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Burma is due to assume the rotating chairmanship of the 10-nation ASEAN next year.
The European Union and the United States have warned they will boycott ASEAN meetings, if Burma steers the grouping.
The issue has exposed divisions among ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Officials from the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia have been calling for Burma not to be allowed to chair the group, but other members say that would be ignoring ASEAN's principle of non-interference in each other's internal problems.
ASEAN foreign ministers have deferred a decision on the chairmanship until July, when they will meet again for ministerial meetings in Laos.
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Radio Australia - News - Philippines says Burma should not host ASEAN
The Japan Times Online
The Japan Times Online
The Japan Times Printer Friendly Articles
INTEREST GROUPS HOLDING NATION ON LEASH
Japan settles for 'low-risk, low-return' FTA goals
By MAYUMI NEGISHI and KANAKO TAKAHARA
Staff writers
Prudish about bilateral free-trade agreements just five years ago, Tokyo is now fielding partnership requests from 25 economies and regional blocs.
But there is no denying an element of haphazardness in the way it is selecting some of the candidates.
Earlier this week, Tokyo agreed to launch a joint study on economic cooperation with Switzerland that includes a possible FTA.
"We're looking to Switzerland because, well, it's in Europe," a Foreign Ministry official who requested anonymity said when asked why the Alpine country was a potential partner. An agreement with Switzerland would offend no major lobby group, making it "low-risk, low-return," he explained.
His statement is one indication why Japan appears to be failing to effectively introduce a cohesive strategy in its FTA talks, according to Hajime Yamazaki, research fellow at Rakuten Securities Economic Research Institute.
"The FTAs with large economic benefits (for Japan) are also the most politically challenging and most likely to stall," he said.
By following the path of least resistance, Japan could end up with numerous watered-down FTAs that look good on paper, but are "neither harm nor cure" for the Japanese economy, Yamazaki said.
Economic partnership agreements have become more palatable to Tokyo, which fears being the odd man out at a time when 150 such partnerships were reported to the World Trade Organization in 2004, up from 31 in 1990.
According to officials at the trade and Foreign ministries, such agreements would give Japan better access to economic blocs emerging in Europe, North America, Southeast Asia and South America, enhance its presence in Asia, and simultaneously trigger domestic reforms by exposing protected industries to global competition.
But that plan is starting to look fuzzy.
Strong resistance at home -- ranging from farmers and steelmakers to leather craftsmen -- is stalling negotiations with key countries, including South Korea, which was Japan's third-largest trading partner in fiscal 2004, with some 7.2 trillion yen in imports and exports.
The government hopes to conclude a Japan-South Korea FTA by year's end, but officials tasked with the negotiations say the deadline is "impractical."
Stiff opposition is also keeping negotiations from taking off with other countries, including Australia, Japan's fourth-largest source of imports and a valuable supplier of oil, coal, iron ore and natural gas.
Two years of coaxing by Canberra have done little to overcome objections from Japanese farmers about opening the nation's doors to more beef, rice and dairy products from Down Under. And in talks with Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi did not commit Japan to an FTA, but to two years of talks on discussing the feasibility of such a pact.
"Japan is sacrificing a good relationship with Australia for the sake of protecting farmers' vested interests," said Shujiro Urata, a professor of sociology at Waseda University.
Tokyo has two FTAs in place: one with Singapore, which went into effect in November 2002, and another with Mexico, in effect since April 1. It reached a basic agreement with the Philippines in November and hopes to do the same with Malaysia and Thailand within the next few months.
Meanwhile, China, which has agreed to launch FTA talks with Australia, is increasingly becoming a factor to be reckoned with in Tokyo's FTA negotiations.
Foreign Ministry officials say Beijing places great importance on FTAs as a means of gaining greater political clout within Asia. China's political structure also enables it to make key decisions quickly.
"It takes time for Japanese officials to make decisions," a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official said.
The "China card" is now being flaunted by opposing negotiators. Representatives of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations tell Japan during FTA talks that Beijing is more eager for an FTA with ASEAN, he said.
One entity should be given ultimate decision-making power to speed up talks, override objections from individual ministries and coordinate trade agreements with domestic reforms, trade officials and business groups agree.
At the same time, however, one trade official said he would not want that body to be the Foreign or agriculture ministry.
Motoshige Ito, economics professor at the University of Tokyo, agrees with the need for Japan to link FTAs with domestic reforms.
Reforms are necessary to make overly protected sectors like agriculture more internationally competitive, he said.
Some Japanese farmers and fishermen have been successful in exporting high-price, high-quality produce, but they are still exceptions.
Glacially slow deregulation, heavy subsidization and a ban on private firms owning farmland leave few incentives for innovative or productive farming, Ito said.
Last month, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry announced plans to consolidate small farms into groups of 30, doubling the number of incorporated farms from the current 10,000, and encouraging more large-scale farming by 2015. But the ban on private firms' ownership of farmland remains.
"Farm reforms are taking place," said one high-ranking Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official who participates in FTA negotiations. "But other countries are reforming faster, and Japan is falling behind."
Coordination is also needed if Japan is to use bilateral FTAs to complement a more comprehensive trade pact under the auspices of the WTO. The 148-member body hopes to conclude negotiations on a new global trade agreement by the end of 2006.
"Japan has a vague strategy (of how it should utilize FTAs), but it's shabby when it comes to the nitty-gritty details," Waseda University's Urata said.
The Japan Times: April 22, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
The Japan Times Printer Friendly Articles
INTEREST GROUPS HOLDING NATION ON LEASH
Japan settles for 'low-risk, low-return' FTA goals
By MAYUMI NEGISHI and KANAKO TAKAHARA
Staff writers
Prudish about bilateral free-trade agreements just five years ago, Tokyo is now fielding partnership requests from 25 economies and regional blocs.
But there is no denying an element of haphazardness in the way it is selecting some of the candidates.
Earlier this week, Tokyo agreed to launch a joint study on economic cooperation with Switzerland that includes a possible FTA.
"We're looking to Switzerland because, well, it's in Europe," a Foreign Ministry official who requested anonymity said when asked why the Alpine country was a potential partner. An agreement with Switzerland would offend no major lobby group, making it "low-risk, low-return," he explained.
His statement is one indication why Japan appears to be failing to effectively introduce a cohesive strategy in its FTA talks, according to Hajime Yamazaki, research fellow at Rakuten Securities Economic Research Institute.
"The FTAs with large economic benefits (for Japan) are also the most politically challenging and most likely to stall," he said.
By following the path of least resistance, Japan could end up with numerous watered-down FTAs that look good on paper, but are "neither harm nor cure" for the Japanese economy, Yamazaki said.
Economic partnership agreements have become more palatable to Tokyo, which fears being the odd man out at a time when 150 such partnerships were reported to the World Trade Organization in 2004, up from 31 in 1990.
According to officials at the trade and Foreign ministries, such agreements would give Japan better access to economic blocs emerging in Europe, North America, Southeast Asia and South America, enhance its presence in Asia, and simultaneously trigger domestic reforms by exposing protected industries to global competition.
But that plan is starting to look fuzzy.
Strong resistance at home -- ranging from farmers and steelmakers to leather craftsmen -- is stalling negotiations with key countries, including South Korea, which was Japan's third-largest trading partner in fiscal 2004, with some 7.2 trillion yen in imports and exports.
The government hopes to conclude a Japan-South Korea FTA by year's end, but officials tasked with the negotiations say the deadline is "impractical."
Stiff opposition is also keeping negotiations from taking off with other countries, including Australia, Japan's fourth-largest source of imports and a valuable supplier of oil, coal, iron ore and natural gas.
Two years of coaxing by Canberra have done little to overcome objections from Japanese farmers about opening the nation's doors to more beef, rice and dairy products from Down Under. And in talks with Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi did not commit Japan to an FTA, but to two years of talks on discussing the feasibility of such a pact.
"Japan is sacrificing a good relationship with Australia for the sake of protecting farmers' vested interests," said Shujiro Urata, a professor of sociology at Waseda University.
Tokyo has two FTAs in place: one with Singapore, which went into effect in November 2002, and another with Mexico, in effect since April 1. It reached a basic agreement with the Philippines in November and hopes to do the same with Malaysia and Thailand within the next few months.
Meanwhile, China, which has agreed to launch FTA talks with Australia, is increasingly becoming a factor to be reckoned with in Tokyo's FTA negotiations.
Foreign Ministry officials say Beijing places great importance on FTAs as a means of gaining greater political clout within Asia. China's political structure also enables it to make key decisions quickly.
"It takes time for Japanese officials to make decisions," a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official said.
The "China card" is now being flaunted by opposing negotiators. Representatives of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations tell Japan during FTA talks that Beijing is more eager for an FTA with ASEAN, he said.
One entity should be given ultimate decision-making power to speed up talks, override objections from individual ministries and coordinate trade agreements with domestic reforms, trade officials and business groups agree.
At the same time, however, one trade official said he would not want that body to be the Foreign or agriculture ministry.
Motoshige Ito, economics professor at the University of Tokyo, agrees with the need for Japan to link FTAs with domestic reforms.
Reforms are necessary to make overly protected sectors like agriculture more internationally competitive, he said.
Some Japanese farmers and fishermen have been successful in exporting high-price, high-quality produce, but they are still exceptions.
Glacially slow deregulation, heavy subsidization and a ban on private firms owning farmland leave few incentives for innovative or productive farming, Ito said.
Last month, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry announced plans to consolidate small farms into groups of 30, doubling the number of incorporated farms from the current 10,000, and encouraging more large-scale farming by 2015. But the ban on private firms' ownership of farmland remains.
"Farm reforms are taking place," said one high-ranking Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official who participates in FTA negotiations. "But other countries are reforming faster, and Japan is falling behind."
Coordination is also needed if Japan is to use bilateral FTAs to complement a more comprehensive trade pact under the auspices of the WTO. The 148-member body hopes to conclude negotiations on a new global trade agreement by the end of 2006.
"Japan has a vague strategy (of how it should utilize FTAs), but it's shabby when it comes to the nitty-gritty details," Waseda University's Urata said.
The Japan Times: April 22, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
People's Daily Online -- FTA talks may lead to trading bloc in Asia
People's Daily Online -- FTA talks may lead to trading bloc in Asia
Home >> World
UPDATED: 13:28, April 22, 2005
FTA talks may lead to trading bloc in Asia
Prospects of free trade in Asia are promising as a dazzlingly complicated network of free trade deals is expanding.
Nations on the continent have signed dozens of agreements about bilateral or multilateral free trade agreements (FTA) and they are in talks for more.
Asia's three biggest economies - China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) are all in respective talks with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) about FTA.
What is more exciting is that the respective FTA deals the three countries are involved in might end up in a trade bloc that includes the three of them as well as ASEAN countries.
Experts mandated by governments earlier this week have begun a study looking at the building of a free trade area that covers the 13 nations.
The FTA could be even bigger because both Australia and New Zealand have expressed intentions to join FTA deals with the so-called 10 plus 3 countries.
South Asian countries have also signed a number of FTA deals.
Between East Asia and South Asia, China and Pakistan have started FTA negotiations; China and India also pledged to build a FTA.
However, there are still no signs that such an FTA that covers China, Japan and the ROK could emerge any time soon.
As the biggest economies in the region, their close economic ties would be very favourable for economic co-operation of the entire region, said Xu Changwen, a senior researcher with the China Academy of International Trade and Economic Co-operation, a think tank under the Ministry of Commerce.
Both China and ROK are willing to build an FTA among the three, but Japan has shown less commitment.
"Japan's attitude is the key. It does not intend to have talks with China soon," said Jiang Ruiping, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University.
"It (Japan) puts lots of emphasis on the fact that China is a new member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It wants to see how well China can adjust to its WTO membership."
Openly, Japanese officials have also disclosed their roadmap for their pursuit of free trade with regional trading partners.
Last year, they finished talks with Singapore. Now they are in talks with ROK, some ASEAN countries individually and ASEAN as a whole.
China seems to be at the very bottom of Japan's namelist.
The benefits of a three-way FTA for Japan are obvious because its enterprises are the strongest in the three countries. In fact, Japanese enterprises lobbied very hard for it.
Zhao Jinping, a veteran Japan expert with the State Council's Development Research Centre, said the Japanese Government does not want to engage in direct FTA talks with China partly because it is wary about the latter's emerging economic power.
Japan also worries that FTA talks with China and ROK would force it to open up its agricultural market, which is a very sensitive sector for Japan.
Closer co-operation needed
In view of their uncertain FTA prospects, China, Japan and ROK should seek to take more orchestrated actions in international economic affairs, Zhao said.
The three economies have increasingly more in common in terms of industrial structure, so they should have closer co-operation in sectors such as energy and steel and on issues such as standards of information technology products.
The recent international disputes over ore prices highlighted the need for co-ordination among the three. Like many issues concerning international trade, being in a bloc puts a trading nation in a better position than being alone in the negotiations, Zhao said.
In fact, China, Japan and ROK all have strong steel industries and are all big ore importers. They will definitely have a bigger say in negotiations if they joined forces.
Within Northeast Asia, strengthening trade ties among the three countries also demands more consultation and discussion.
Mechanisms have been set up for three-party talks on issues such as public finance, macroeconomic management, finance and quarantine.
In the non-governmental sectors, exchanges between industry associations and enterprises from the three countries are also increasing.
Source: China Daily
Home >> World
UPDATED: 13:28, April 22, 2005
FTA talks may lead to trading bloc in Asia
Prospects of free trade in Asia are promising as a dazzlingly complicated network of free trade deals is expanding.
Nations on the continent have signed dozens of agreements about bilateral or multilateral free trade agreements (FTA) and they are in talks for more.
Asia's three biggest economies - China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) are all in respective talks with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) about FTA.
What is more exciting is that the respective FTA deals the three countries are involved in might end up in a trade bloc that includes the three of them as well as ASEAN countries.
Experts mandated by governments earlier this week have begun a study looking at the building of a free trade area that covers the 13 nations.
The FTA could be even bigger because both Australia and New Zealand have expressed intentions to join FTA deals with the so-called 10 plus 3 countries.
South Asian countries have also signed a number of FTA deals.
Between East Asia and South Asia, China and Pakistan have started FTA negotiations; China and India also pledged to build a FTA.
However, there are still no signs that such an FTA that covers China, Japan and the ROK could emerge any time soon.
As the biggest economies in the region, their close economic ties would be very favourable for economic co-operation of the entire region, said Xu Changwen, a senior researcher with the China Academy of International Trade and Economic Co-operation, a think tank under the Ministry of Commerce.
Both China and ROK are willing to build an FTA among the three, but Japan has shown less commitment.
"Japan's attitude is the key. It does not intend to have talks with China soon," said Jiang Ruiping, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University.
"It (Japan) puts lots of emphasis on the fact that China is a new member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It wants to see how well China can adjust to its WTO membership."
Openly, Japanese officials have also disclosed their roadmap for their pursuit of free trade with regional trading partners.
Last year, they finished talks with Singapore. Now they are in talks with ROK, some ASEAN countries individually and ASEAN as a whole.
China seems to be at the very bottom of Japan's namelist.
The benefits of a three-way FTA for Japan are obvious because its enterprises are the strongest in the three countries. In fact, Japanese enterprises lobbied very hard for it.
Zhao Jinping, a veteran Japan expert with the State Council's Development Research Centre, said the Japanese Government does not want to engage in direct FTA talks with China partly because it is wary about the latter's emerging economic power.
Japan also worries that FTA talks with China and ROK would force it to open up its agricultural market, which is a very sensitive sector for Japan.
Closer co-operation needed
In view of their uncertain FTA prospects, China, Japan and ROK should seek to take more orchestrated actions in international economic affairs, Zhao said.
The three economies have increasingly more in common in terms of industrial structure, so they should have closer co-operation in sectors such as energy and steel and on issues such as standards of information technology products.
The recent international disputes over ore prices highlighted the need for co-ordination among the three. Like many issues concerning international trade, being in a bloc puts a trading nation in a better position than being alone in the negotiations, Zhao said.
In fact, China, Japan and ROK all have strong steel industries and are all big ore importers. They will definitely have a bigger say in negotiations if they joined forces.
Within Northeast Asia, strengthening trade ties among the three countries also demands more consultation and discussion.
Mechanisms have been set up for three-party talks on issues such as public finance, macroeconomic management, finance and quarantine.
In the non-governmental sectors, exchanges between industry associations and enterprises from the three countries are also increasing.
Source: China Daily
Report: Malaysian leader urges China and Japan to make amends
Report: Malaysian leader urges China and Japan to make amends
Saturday April 23, 6:10 PM
Report: Malaysian leader urges China and Japan to make amends
Malaysia's leader on Saturday urged Beijing and Tokyo to resolve their dispute over Japan's wartime past and violent anti-Japanese protests in China, a news report said.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also said he believed Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's apology on Friday for his country's wartime atrocities had been generally well received, the national news agency Bernama reported.
Relations between China and Japan have plunged to a three-decade low, with massive anti-Japanese protests erupting in several Chinese cities over Japanese textbooks critics say gloss over Tokyo's past militarism and its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Speaking earlier Saturday at the Boao Forum on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, the Malaysian premier added that it was important to remember the bigger picture.
"For that, China and Japan must move on in their cooperation for the development of East Asia and play their part in the bigger process and platform of ASEAN+3," he was quoted as saying, referring to a grouping which includes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China, Japan and South Korea.
Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao are due to meet Saturday on the sidelines of the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta in an effort to defuse the tensions, officials said. ADVERTISEMENT
Abdullah, who is now at the Jakarta summit, said he was confident that the leaders of China and Japan would be able to sit down together and resolve their differences.
"We in ASEAN certainly value not only peace and stability in the Southeast Asia region but also in East Asia and also the Pacific," Bernama quoted him as saying
Saturday April 23, 6:10 PM
Report: Malaysian leader urges China and Japan to make amends
Malaysia's leader on Saturday urged Beijing and Tokyo to resolve their dispute over Japan's wartime past and violent anti-Japanese protests in China, a news report said.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also said he believed Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's apology on Friday for his country's wartime atrocities had been generally well received, the national news agency Bernama reported.
Relations between China and Japan have plunged to a three-decade low, with massive anti-Japanese protests erupting in several Chinese cities over Japanese textbooks critics say gloss over Tokyo's past militarism and its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Speaking earlier Saturday at the Boao Forum on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, the Malaysian premier added that it was important to remember the bigger picture.
"For that, China and Japan must move on in their cooperation for the development of East Asia and play their part in the bigger process and platform of ASEAN+3," he was quoted as saying, referring to a grouping which includes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China, Japan and South Korea.
Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao are due to meet Saturday on the sidelines of the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta in an effort to defuse the tensions, officials said. ADVERTISEMENT
Abdullah, who is now at the Jakarta summit, said he was confident that the leaders of China and Japan would be able to sit down together and resolve their differences.
"We in ASEAN certainly value not only peace and stability in the Southeast Asia region but also in East Asia and also the Pacific," Bernama quoted him as saying
Anti-Japan Protests Make Asean More Attractive :: Bernama.com
Anti-Japan Protests Make Asean More Attractive :: Bernama.com
Bernama.com
Malaysian National News Agency
Anti-Japan Protests Make Asean More Attractive
Business
April 23, 2005 13:23 PM
From Mohd Arshi Daud
TOKYO, April 23 (Bernama) -- Asean's attraction as an investment destination for Japanese companies has somewhat been boosted by the anti-Japan protests in China in recent weeks, said secretary general of Asean-Japan Promotion Centre on Trade, Investment and Tourism, Nobutoshi Akao.
"China is a big and important market. But the strong anti-Japan feeling only raise the risk of investment in China.
"If this continues, the tendency for Japanese companies considering Asean countries as a very important alternative for investment will increase," he said here.
Speaking to Bernama on the sidelines of a trade and investment mission led by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz, Akao said that there were already concerns over Japanese companies' investment in China and complaints over the infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights in that country.
"China is strengthening its IP regulations but the problem is still enforcement."
"A Jetro (Japan External Trade Organisation) survey reveals that Japanese companies incurred US$1 billion of losses each year in China due to infringement of patents, copyrights, trademarks and others," Akao said.
Malaysia, he said is one of the top investment locations for Japanese companies due to its excellent infrastructure, educated and hardworking labour and pro-business policies.
"Your government has been very cooperative and quick in resolving problems faced by Japanese companies," he added.
-- BERNAMA
Copyright © 2005 BERNAMA. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form except with the prior express permission of BERNAMA. Disclaimer
Bernama.com
Malaysian National News Agency
Anti-Japan Protests Make Asean More Attractive
Business
April 23, 2005 13:23 PM
From Mohd Arshi Daud
TOKYO, April 23 (Bernama) -- Asean's attraction as an investment destination for Japanese companies has somewhat been boosted by the anti-Japan protests in China in recent weeks, said secretary general of Asean-Japan Promotion Centre on Trade, Investment and Tourism, Nobutoshi Akao.
"China is a big and important market. But the strong anti-Japan feeling only raise the risk of investment in China.
"If this continues, the tendency for Japanese companies considering Asean countries as a very important alternative for investment will increase," he said here.
Speaking to Bernama on the sidelines of a trade and investment mission led by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz, Akao said that there were already concerns over Japanese companies' investment in China and complaints over the infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights in that country.
"China is strengthening its IP regulations but the problem is still enforcement."
"A Jetro (Japan External Trade Organisation) survey reveals that Japanese companies incurred US$1 billion of losses each year in China due to infringement of patents, copyrights, trademarks and others," Akao said.
Malaysia, he said is one of the top investment locations for Japanese companies due to its excellent infrastructure, educated and hardworking labour and pro-business policies.
"Your government has been very cooperative and quick in resolving problems faced by Japanese companies," he added.
-- BERNAMA
Copyright © 2005 BERNAMA. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form except with the prior express permission of BERNAMA. Disclaimer
Herald Sun: Howard snubbed at Asia summit [24apr05]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Print this page
Howard snubbed at Asia summit
By MALCOLM FARR in Boao, China
24apr05
MALAYSIA yesterday used Asia's most distinguished economic gathering to reinforce its veto on Australia attending a regional summit.
With Prime Minister John Howard listening in the front row, Malaysia's Abdullah Badawi itemised why we should be barred from the East Asia Summit later this year.
He was addressing the Boao annual economic forum where he and Mr Howard were the opening speakers.
Mr Howard used the forum to declare Australia was working in Asia and was not going away.
"We are together forever in this part of the world," he told the forum of political and business leaders.
However, comments by the Malaysian Prime Minister jarred with this.
In what was seen as a reference to Australia's close ties with the US, Mr Badawi said summit members could not "seek common cause" with powers outside the Asian community.
He also said summit members would have to sign a Treaty of Amity and Co-operation. Australia has refused to do so.
Mr Badawi later said Australia had not been the target of his references to outsiders, or to the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation.
"It is a matter of principle that I suggested it," he said of his reference to outsiders.
"It was not particularly a reference to anyone."
Of the treaty he said: "When I was in Australia (two weeks ago), Prime Minister John Howard did mention to me about it.
"But what I just mentioned was a reference to a decision made by the foreign ministers of ASEAN when they met recently in the Philippines."
Australia has argued it should be an inaugural member of the summit, which so far will include the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan and Korea.
Japan supports Australia and China has been "positive", but Malaysia has opposed the entry.
Yesterday, Mr Badawi highlighted Australia's refusal to sign the treaty, saying it was needed to ensure security interests were "intertwined".
privacy terms © Herald and Weekly Times
Herald Sun: Howard snubbed at Asia summit [24apr05]
Print this page
Howard snubbed at Asia summit
By MALCOLM FARR in Boao, China
24apr05
MALAYSIA yesterday used Asia's most distinguished economic gathering to reinforce its veto on Australia attending a regional summit.
With Prime Minister John Howard listening in the front row, Malaysia's Abdullah Badawi itemised why we should be barred from the East Asia Summit later this year.
He was addressing the Boao annual economic forum where he and Mr Howard were the opening speakers.
Mr Howard used the forum to declare Australia was working in Asia and was not going away.
"We are together forever in this part of the world," he told the forum of political and business leaders.
However, comments by the Malaysian Prime Minister jarred with this.
In what was seen as a reference to Australia's close ties with the US, Mr Badawi said summit members could not "seek common cause" with powers outside the Asian community.
He also said summit members would have to sign a Treaty of Amity and Co-operation. Australia has refused to do so.
Mr Badawi later said Australia had not been the target of his references to outsiders, or to the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation.
"It is a matter of principle that I suggested it," he said of his reference to outsiders.
"It was not particularly a reference to anyone."
Of the treaty he said: "When I was in Australia (two weeks ago), Prime Minister John Howard did mention to me about it.
"But what I just mentioned was a reference to a decision made by the foreign ministers of ASEAN when they met recently in the Philippines."
Australia has argued it should be an inaugural member of the summit, which so far will include the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan and Korea.
Japan supports Australia and China has been "positive", but Malaysia has opposed the entry.
Yesterday, Mr Badawi highlighted Australia's refusal to sign the treaty, saying it was needed to ensure security interests were "intertwined".
privacy terms © Herald and Weekly Times
Herald Sun: Howard snubbed at Asia summit [24apr05]
FTA talks may lead to new trading bloc
FTA talks may lead to new trading bloc
The Star Online > Asia
Saturday April 23, 2005
FTA talks may lead to new trading bloc
PROSPECTS of free trade in Asia are promising as a dazzlingly complicated network of free trade deals is expanding.
Nations on the continent have signed dozens of agreements about bilateral or multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) and they are in talks for more.
Asia’s three biggest economies – China, Japan and South Korea – are all in respective talks with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) about FTAs.
What is more exciting is that the respective FTA deals the three countries are involved in might end up in a trade bloc that includes the three of them as well as Asean countries.
Experts mandated by governments earlier this week have begun a study looking at the building of a free trade area that covers the three countries and the 10 nations in Asean.
The FTA could be even bigger because both Australia and New Zealand have expressed interest in the talks.
South Asian countries have also signed a number of FTA deals.
Between East Asia and South Asia, China and Pakistan have started FTA negotiations; China and India also pledged to build a FTA.
However, there are still no signs that such an FTA that covers China, Japan and South Korea will emerge any time soon.
As the biggest economies in the region, their close economic ties would be very favourable for economic co-operation of the entire region, said Xu Changwen, a senior researcher with the China Academy of International Trade and Economic Co-operation, a think-tank under the Commerce Ministry.
Both China and South Korea are willing to build an FTA among the three, but Japan has shown less commitment.
“Japan’s attitude is the key. It does not intend to have talks with China soon,” said China Foreign Affairs University professor Jiang Ruiping.
“It (Japan) puts lots of emphasis on the fact that China is a new member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It wants to see how well China can adjust to its WTO membership.”
Openly, Japanese officials have also disclosed their roadmap for their pursuit of free trade with regional trading partners.
Last year, they finished talks with Singapore. Now they are in talks with South Korea, some Asean countries individually and Asean as a whole.
China seems to be at the very bottom of Japan’s list.
The benefits of a three-way FTA for Japan are obvious because its enterprises are the strongest in the three countries. In fact, Japanese enterprises lobbied very hard for it.
Veteran Japan expert Zhao Jinping of the State Council’s Development Research Centre said the Japanese Government did not want to engage in direct FTA talks with China partly because it was wary about the latter’s emerging economic power.
Japan also worries that FTA talks with China and South Korea would force it to open up its agricultural market, which is a very sensitive sector for Japan. – China Daily
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)
The Star Online > Asia
Saturday April 23, 2005
FTA talks may lead to new trading bloc
PROSPECTS of free trade in Asia are promising as a dazzlingly complicated network of free trade deals is expanding.
Nations on the continent have signed dozens of agreements about bilateral or multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) and they are in talks for more.
Asia’s three biggest economies – China, Japan and South Korea – are all in respective talks with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) about FTAs.
What is more exciting is that the respective FTA deals the three countries are involved in might end up in a trade bloc that includes the three of them as well as Asean countries.
Experts mandated by governments earlier this week have begun a study looking at the building of a free trade area that covers the three countries and the 10 nations in Asean.
The FTA could be even bigger because both Australia and New Zealand have expressed interest in the talks.
South Asian countries have also signed a number of FTA deals.
Between East Asia and South Asia, China and Pakistan have started FTA negotiations; China and India also pledged to build a FTA.
However, there are still no signs that such an FTA that covers China, Japan and South Korea will emerge any time soon.
As the biggest economies in the region, their close economic ties would be very favourable for economic co-operation of the entire region, said Xu Changwen, a senior researcher with the China Academy of International Trade and Economic Co-operation, a think-tank under the Commerce Ministry.
Both China and South Korea are willing to build an FTA among the three, but Japan has shown less commitment.
“Japan’s attitude is the key. It does not intend to have talks with China soon,” said China Foreign Affairs University professor Jiang Ruiping.
“It (Japan) puts lots of emphasis on the fact that China is a new member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It wants to see how well China can adjust to its WTO membership.”
Openly, Japanese officials have also disclosed their roadmap for their pursuit of free trade with regional trading partners.
Last year, they finished talks with Singapore. Now they are in talks with South Korea, some Asean countries individually and Asean as a whole.
China seems to be at the very bottom of Japan’s list.
The benefits of a three-way FTA for Japan are obvious because its enterprises are the strongest in the three countries. In fact, Japanese enterprises lobbied very hard for it.
Veteran Japan expert Zhao Jinping of the State Council’s Development Research Centre said the Japanese Government did not want to engage in direct FTA talks with China partly because it was wary about the latter’s emerging economic power.
Japan also worries that FTA talks with China and South Korea would force it to open up its agricultural market, which is a very sensitive sector for Japan. – China Daily
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ASEAN, S. Korea start FTA talks
By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea have started negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement that calls for zero tariffs for 80 percent of both parties’ total tariff lines by 2009.
Trade and Industry Senior Undersecretary Thomas G. Aquino said the Philippines participated in the initial trade negotiations for the proposed ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA) held in Jakarta recently.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled this month in Seoul where the scope of the proposal should be finalized before the scheduled ASEAN Summit.
Aquino described the AKFTA as the most ambitious among all the ASEAN engagements.
"Of all the ASEAN engagements, the ASEAN-Korea FTA is the most ambitious in the sense that 80 percent of tariffs will be at zero by 2009. With this, the Philippines has to fasttrack the work done usually in three years, at least based on the ASEAN-China FTA negotiations," Aquino said.
The next round of negotiation is scheduled in mid-April in Seoul, South Korea where the details of the agreements to be finalized before the scheduled ASEAN Summit will be discussed.
The initial meeting was an offshoot of the ASEAN-Korea Summit in November last year in Vientiane, Laos where the leaders agreed to launch the negotiations in early 2005 for the AKFTA.
The staged approach to the proposed FTA, whereby certain areas like trade in goods would be negotiated and concluded in advance of other more sensitive areas such as services and investments, will be adopted for the AKFTA negotiations.
Negotiations for trade in goods will commence in 2005 followed by services and investments in 2006. Separate agreements will be negotiated in each of the three areas.
For the current year, the delivera-bles include the finalization of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership between ASEAN and Korea, the Trade in Goods Agreement, Rules of Origin for the AKFTA and Agreement on Dispute Settlement Mechanism.
All these have to be completed in time for the ASEAN-Korea Summit in October 2005.
"The Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership serves as an enabling document to bind other Member Countries to other aspects of the FTA since negotiations will be undertaken on a staged approach" Secretary Santos said.
"The approach assures both sides that the outstanding issues would also be addressed after the first phase of the negotiations is completed", Aquino said.
The Trade in Goods Agreement will include the agreed modality for tariff reduction and elimination between ASEAN and Korea.
Aquino said an important element of the negotiations in trade in goods is the Rules of Origin that will provide specific guidelines on the determination of originating goods from ASEAN and Korea and whether these could be accorded preferential rates within the AKFTA.
Preferential origin rules must be developed to prevent third country imports from taking advantage of the concessions that were agreed upon by ASEAN and Korea in the AKFTA.
Rules with respect to the avoidance or settlement of disputes between ASEAN and Korea concerning their rights and obligations under the AKFTA will also be required with the substantive concessions on goods in place.
ASEAN member countries’ exports to South Korea increased by 156 percent from $6.125 million in 1993 to $15.702 million in 2002. Top five exports include mineral products, machinery and electrical appliances, chemicals, wood and wood articles, and plastics.
The regional trade bloc’s imports from South Korea likewise grew by 107 percent from $7.148 million in 1993 to $14.830 million in 2002 with machinery and electrical appliances, base metal and metal products, mineral products, chemicals, and textile and apparels as top five imports.
On a bilateral level, South Korea remained as one of the Philippines’ top ten trading partners for the last five years (19992003).
Two-way trade between the two countries increased by 0.18 percent annually. South Korea also ranked as the country’s seventh biggest trading partner, ninth largest export market and fourth largest import supplier in 2003.
Semiconductor devices remain as the country’s top export product to South Korea, with exports amounting to $691 million in 2003 or 52.73 percent of the total exports.
Other top exports to South Korea were: parts and accessories of automatic data processing machines, $73 million or 5.59 percent; refined copper cathodes, $65 million or 4.95 percent; storage units, $55 million or 4.18 percent; and petroleum naphtha, $38 million or 2.92 percent.
Top imports, on the other hand, include semiconductor components & devices, $483 million; cellular phones worth $249 million; other material & accessories, for the manufacture of semiconductor devices, $132 million; dice of any material, $111 million; and parts and accessories of automatic data processing machines, $110 million.
South Korea’s investments in the Philippines amounted to $712.2 million, making up for 3.7 percent of the total amount of foreign investments in 2003. Investments range from the sectors of IT-services, manufacturing, fishery and agriculture.
The Philippines and South Korea entered into a trade agreement on 24 April 1978 that was ratified on 30 September 1978. The exchange of notes of ratification was done on 6 November 1978. The treaty is operational. The two countries also signed the Philippine-Korea Investment Agreement on April 7, 1994.
In the multilateral level, South Korea has an agreement for liberalized trade among the less developed member-countries of the ESCAP (Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan).
This agreement provides for tariff concessions on some commodities including agricultural items, manufactured goods, chemicals and minerals.
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ASEAN, S. Korea start FTA talks
By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea have started negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement that calls for zero tariffs for 80 percent of both parties’ total tariff lines by 2009.
Trade and Industry Senior Undersecretary Thomas G. Aquino said the Philippines participated in the initial trade negotiations for the proposed ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA) held in Jakarta recently.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled this month in Seoul where the scope of the proposal should be finalized before the scheduled ASEAN Summit.
Aquino described the AKFTA as the most ambitious among all the ASEAN engagements.
"Of all the ASEAN engagements, the ASEAN-Korea FTA is the most ambitious in the sense that 80 percent of tariffs will be at zero by 2009. With this, the Philippines has to fasttrack the work done usually in three years, at least based on the ASEAN-China FTA negotiations," Aquino said.
The next round of negotiation is scheduled in mid-April in Seoul, South Korea where the details of the agreements to be finalized before the scheduled ASEAN Summit will be discussed.
The initial meeting was an offshoot of the ASEAN-Korea Summit in November last year in Vientiane, Laos where the leaders agreed to launch the negotiations in early 2005 for the AKFTA.
The staged approach to the proposed FTA, whereby certain areas like trade in goods would be negotiated and concluded in advance of other more sensitive areas such as services and investments, will be adopted for the AKFTA negotiations.
Negotiations for trade in goods will commence in 2005 followed by services and investments in 2006. Separate agreements will be negotiated in each of the three areas.
For the current year, the delivera-bles include the finalization of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership between ASEAN and Korea, the Trade in Goods Agreement, Rules of Origin for the AKFTA and Agreement on Dispute Settlement Mechanism.
All these have to be completed in time for the ASEAN-Korea Summit in October 2005.
"The Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership serves as an enabling document to bind other Member Countries to other aspects of the FTA since negotiations will be undertaken on a staged approach" Secretary Santos said.
"The approach assures both sides that the outstanding issues would also be addressed after the first phase of the negotiations is completed", Aquino said.
The Trade in Goods Agreement will include the agreed modality for tariff reduction and elimination between ASEAN and Korea.
Aquino said an important element of the negotiations in trade in goods is the Rules of Origin that will provide specific guidelines on the determination of originating goods from ASEAN and Korea and whether these could be accorded preferential rates within the AKFTA.
Preferential origin rules must be developed to prevent third country imports from taking advantage of the concessions that were agreed upon by ASEAN and Korea in the AKFTA.
Rules with respect to the avoidance or settlement of disputes between ASEAN and Korea concerning their rights and obligations under the AKFTA will also be required with the substantive concessions on goods in place.
ASEAN member countries’ exports to South Korea increased by 156 percent from $6.125 million in 1993 to $15.702 million in 2002. Top five exports include mineral products, machinery and electrical appliances, chemicals, wood and wood articles, and plastics.
The regional trade bloc’s imports from South Korea likewise grew by 107 percent from $7.148 million in 1993 to $14.830 million in 2002 with machinery and electrical appliances, base metal and metal products, mineral products, chemicals, and textile and apparels as top five imports.
On a bilateral level, South Korea remained as one of the Philippines’ top ten trading partners for the last five years (19992003).
Two-way trade between the two countries increased by 0.18 percent annually. South Korea also ranked as the country’s seventh biggest trading partner, ninth largest export market and fourth largest import supplier in 2003.
Semiconductor devices remain as the country’s top export product to South Korea, with exports amounting to $691 million in 2003 or 52.73 percent of the total exports.
Other top exports to South Korea were: parts and accessories of automatic data processing machines, $73 million or 5.59 percent; refined copper cathodes, $65 million or 4.95 percent; storage units, $55 million or 4.18 percent; and petroleum naphtha, $38 million or 2.92 percent.
Top imports, on the other hand, include semiconductor components & devices, $483 million; cellular phones worth $249 million; other material & accessories, for the manufacture of semiconductor devices, $132 million; dice of any material, $111 million; and parts and accessories of automatic data processing machines, $110 million.
South Korea’s investments in the Philippines amounted to $712.2 million, making up for 3.7 percent of the total amount of foreign investments in 2003. Investments range from the sectors of IT-services, manufacturing, fishery and agriculture.
The Philippines and South Korea entered into a trade agreement on 24 April 1978 that was ratified on 30 September 1978. The exchange of notes of ratification was done on 6 November 1978. The treaty is operational. The two countries also signed the Philippine-Korea Investment Agreement on April 7, 1994.
In the multilateral level, South Korea has an agreement for liberalized trade among the less developed member-countries of the ESCAP (Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan).
This agreement provides for tariff concessions on some commodities including agricultural items, manufactured goods, chemicals and minerals.
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星期六, 四月 23, 2005
Integration helps deliver Asian dream
Integration helps deliver Asian dream
Integration helps deliver Asian dream
China Daily Updated: 2005-04-23 06:04
The Annual Report 2005, released yesterday at Boao Forum for Asia in South China's Hainan Province, depicts a phenomenal trend to which not only Asian nations but also the rest of the world must adapt.
More evident than ever, the economic integration is promoting the upgrading of Asia into an increasingly important player in the world economy.
It is a remarkable achievement that developing Asian economies have increased their share in the world aggregate GDP from 15 per cent in 1990 to 23.8 per cent in 2003. The continent produced 38 per cent of world output that year.
More amazing is the prospect that, if the growth momentum continues, Asia as a whole will soon contribute nearly half of the world output.
Surely, this will represent an unprecedented shift in the focus of the world economy in modern historical terms.
However, for Asian nations to ride the trend, it is more important to understand the driving force behind it rather than simply to take it for granted.
A strong desire shared by the Asian people to accelerate economic development and social progress is most certainly one of the underlying causes of the emergence of Asia in recent years.
But as the report noted, the growth in the share of Asian economies in world trade and output was not uniform across the area over the last 20 years. The largest increase in output and trade share accrued to East Asian countries.
Robust growth of the Chinese economy has fed through to the rest of East Asia to a degree, which explains the disparity in the pace of growth between various parts of the continent.
Yet, the more fundamental reason lies in the impressive expansion of East Asian intra-trade based on the growing symbiosis of export and import composition of countries in the group.
It is noteworthy that East Asian intra-regional trade grew even more rapidly than its global trade; its intra-trade share in world trade went up threefold from 2.2 per cent to 6.5 per cent over 1985-2001.
The fact that trade between China and individual East Asian countries is considerably greater than what should be expected based on their proximity and relative size in world trade reflects a growing interdependence between them. That is clearly a result of the active participation of these countries in the international vertically integrated production sharing across Asia.
This is an important finding that all Asian nations should take to heart if the growth miracle of Asia will be sustained to deliver common prosperity.
Although the success of the last 20 years does not guarantee smooth sailing for the Asia economy in the coming decades, the experience accumulated in one part of the continent should allow Asian nations to learn from and contribute to one another.
A key message the report has helped drive home is that co-ordinated policy approaches are essential to the emergence of integrated international production systems in Asia.
Rapid development will spread across Asia only when greater economic and political co-operation strengthen trade ties in both multilateral and regional frameworks.
(China Daily 04/23/2005 page4)
Integration helps deliver Asian dream
China Daily Updated: 2005-04-23 06:04
The Annual Report 2005, released yesterday at Boao Forum for Asia in South China's Hainan Province, depicts a phenomenal trend to which not only Asian nations but also the rest of the world must adapt.
More evident than ever, the economic integration is promoting the upgrading of Asia into an increasingly important player in the world economy.
It is a remarkable achievement that developing Asian economies have increased their share in the world aggregate GDP from 15 per cent in 1990 to 23.8 per cent in 2003. The continent produced 38 per cent of world output that year.
More amazing is the prospect that, if the growth momentum continues, Asia as a whole will soon contribute nearly half of the world output.
Surely, this will represent an unprecedented shift in the focus of the world economy in modern historical terms.
However, for Asian nations to ride the trend, it is more important to understand the driving force behind it rather than simply to take it for granted.
A strong desire shared by the Asian people to accelerate economic development and social progress is most certainly one of the underlying causes of the emergence of Asia in recent years.
But as the report noted, the growth in the share of Asian economies in world trade and output was not uniform across the area over the last 20 years. The largest increase in output and trade share accrued to East Asian countries.
Robust growth of the Chinese economy has fed through to the rest of East Asia to a degree, which explains the disparity in the pace of growth between various parts of the continent.
Yet, the more fundamental reason lies in the impressive expansion of East Asian intra-trade based on the growing symbiosis of export and import composition of countries in the group.
It is noteworthy that East Asian intra-regional trade grew even more rapidly than its global trade; its intra-trade share in world trade went up threefold from 2.2 per cent to 6.5 per cent over 1985-2001.
The fact that trade between China and individual East Asian countries is considerably greater than what should be expected based on their proximity and relative size in world trade reflects a growing interdependence between them. That is clearly a result of the active participation of these countries in the international vertically integrated production sharing across Asia.
This is an important finding that all Asian nations should take to heart if the growth miracle of Asia will be sustained to deliver common prosperity.
Although the success of the last 20 years does not guarantee smooth sailing for the Asia economy in the coming decades, the experience accumulated in one part of the continent should allow Asian nations to learn from and contribute to one another.
A key message the report has helped drive home is that co-ordinated policy approaches are essential to the emergence of integrated international production systems in Asia.
Rapid development will spread across Asia only when greater economic and political co-operation strengthen trade ties in both multilateral and regional frameworks.
(China Daily 04/23/2005 page4)
China's rise drives region's emergence
China's rise drives region's emergence
China's rise drives region's emergence
Updated: 2005-04-23 09:04
China's rise is just part of a bigger Asian story. And the rise of Asia is giving vital impetus to the world economy as well as providing a new model of peaceful coexistence that overcomes social and cultural differences, Chinese and foreign officials and policy advisors said at a high-level conference here on Friday.
"In today's world, China is not the only country that is rising peacefully. China's emergence is part of Asia's emergence," said Zheng Bijian, chairman of the China Reform Forum, at the conference titled, "China's peaceful rise and the new role of Asia." Zheng's forum, the Boao Forum for Asia and the New York-based Asia Society co-organized the conference.
Zheng said the East Asia region, which mainly covers China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is responsible for a considerable part of global economic growth and has shown great development potential. And South Asia, led by India, is fast catching up.
The region's collective reactions to a series of crises since 1997 have shown that co-operation in East Asia has surmounted, is surmounting and will surmount cultural and social differences, Zheng said.
Speakers at the conference said that Asia's development has defied traditional scenarios for an emerging country or region.
"Perhaps the strongest reason for optimism (over the region) is that it is no longer true that rising powers must inevitably confront existing powers in either an acrimonious rivalry or in overtly belligerent competition," said Michael Rich, executive vice-president of Rand Corp, a US-based think tank.
Fortunately, many nations around the globe, particularly here in Asia, have demonstrated there is a superior way to create prosperity and power: through indigenous and mutual reinforcement of economic growth, Rich said.
In the case of China, its "dramatic growth in global stature has come from its peaceful economic development, the government's decisiveness in managing difficult development problems, and the consequent improvement in the lives of its citizens, not from its military power or geopolitical assertiveness," he said.
Jerome Monod, chief political advisor to French President Jacques Chirac, offered his observations on China's emergence.
China's rise has come about through participation in economic globalization, competition with others in the world market and recognition of a world system that is mutually beneficial to all, he said.
"I believe China's peaceful rise is something to emulate and not to fear. This indeed, is unquestionable for me," he added.
But why does China want its development to be peaceful? Lee Kuan Yew, respected statesman and Singapore's Minister Mentor proffered an explanation.
He said China's leaders since Deng Xiaoping have experienced all or a large part of China's tumultuous history over the past century and know very well the costs of conflict and confrontation, domestic or international.
But China's path of future development will not be smooth. There are still many problems to deal with, participants agreed.
Zheng said the major challenges China faces include energy shortages, environmental problems, and the conflict between short-term goals such as technology upgrades, job creation, reform and stability.
China's answer to these problems is a set of strategies that include the promotion of more efficient industrial growth; active participation in economic globalization and continuous social reforms, he said.
China's rise drives region's emergence
Updated: 2005-04-23 09:04
China's rise is just part of a bigger Asian story. And the rise of Asia is giving vital impetus to the world economy as well as providing a new model of peaceful coexistence that overcomes social and cultural differences, Chinese and foreign officials and policy advisors said at a high-level conference here on Friday.
"In today's world, China is not the only country that is rising peacefully. China's emergence is part of Asia's emergence," said Zheng Bijian, chairman of the China Reform Forum, at the conference titled, "China's peaceful rise and the new role of Asia." Zheng's forum, the Boao Forum for Asia and the New York-based Asia Society co-organized the conference.
Zheng said the East Asia region, which mainly covers China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is responsible for a considerable part of global economic growth and has shown great development potential. And South Asia, led by India, is fast catching up.
The region's collective reactions to a series of crises since 1997 have shown that co-operation in East Asia has surmounted, is surmounting and will surmount cultural and social differences, Zheng said.
Speakers at the conference said that Asia's development has defied traditional scenarios for an emerging country or region.
"Perhaps the strongest reason for optimism (over the region) is that it is no longer true that rising powers must inevitably confront existing powers in either an acrimonious rivalry or in overtly belligerent competition," said Michael Rich, executive vice-president of Rand Corp, a US-based think tank.
Fortunately, many nations around the globe, particularly here in Asia, have demonstrated there is a superior way to create prosperity and power: through indigenous and mutual reinforcement of economic growth, Rich said.
In the case of China, its "dramatic growth in global stature has come from its peaceful economic development, the government's decisiveness in managing difficult development problems, and the consequent improvement in the lives of its citizens, not from its military power or geopolitical assertiveness," he said.
Jerome Monod, chief political advisor to French President Jacques Chirac, offered his observations on China's emergence.
China's rise has come about through participation in economic globalization, competition with others in the world market and recognition of a world system that is mutually beneficial to all, he said.
"I believe China's peaceful rise is something to emulate and not to fear. This indeed, is unquestionable for me," he added.
But why does China want its development to be peaceful? Lee Kuan Yew, respected statesman and Singapore's Minister Mentor proffered an explanation.
He said China's leaders since Deng Xiaoping have experienced all or a large part of China's tumultuous history over the past century and know very well the costs of conflict and confrontation, domestic or international.
But China's path of future development will not be smooth. There are still many problems to deal with, participants agreed.
Zheng said the major challenges China faces include energy shortages, environmental problems, and the conflict between short-term goals such as technology upgrades, job creation, reform and stability.
China's answer to these problems is a set of strategies that include the promotion of more efficient industrial growth; active participation in economic globalization and continuous social reforms, he said.
Jia: Building harmonious, prosperous Asia
Jia: Building harmonious, prosperous Asia
Home>News Center>China
Jia: Building harmonious, prosperous Asia
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-04-23 13:47
BOAO, Hainan -- Chinese top state advisor Jia Qinglin Saturday called on Asian countries to promote cooperation in building a harmonious and prosperous Asia.
China "is committed to developing good-neighborly relationship and partnership" with other Asian countries for this purpose, said Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, in a keynote speech at the opening of the 2005 annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA).
Jia told the audience of more than 1,200 political leaders, business people, experts and scholars that China is committed to developing good-neighborly relationship and partnership by constantly deepening friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation with other Asian countries.
The celebrities attending the annual conference, held in this coastal town of southernmost China's Hainan Province, include Australian Premier John Howard, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Shussel, King Gyanendra of Nepal, Afghanistan Vice President AbdulKarim Khalili, Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Acting Chief-Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuan of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
"Right now, Asia is faced with a historic opportunity for development," as all Asian peoples share the aspiration for peace,stability, development and cooperation, said Jia.
Against the backdrop of surging economic globalization, many Asian countries have succeeded in restructuring their economies, accelerated their industrial upgrading, increased the level of science and technology and maintained the development momentum.
In the process of regional integration, the Asian countries have found themselves increasingly interdependent through closer dialogue and coordination, visibly improved capacity of fending off risks with a burgeoning regional network of cooperation, he said.
However, Jia said, Asia is also faced with numerous difficulties and challenges. "Historical disputes and present conflicts are eroding the mutual trust among certain countries. Traditional and non-traditional security threats, ranging from regional hot-spots and terrorism to transnational crimes are intertwined to render Asia insecure."
Other problems, such as ecological degradation, natural disasters, communicable diseases and widening wealth gap are also drags on Asia's development, Jia said.
Facing both opportunities and challenges, Jia suggested, "we should build a harmonious Asia where countries coexist in amity politically, conduct equal-footed and mutually beneficial cooperation economically, trust one another with close coordination on security matters, and complement each other culturally."
Jia said that Asian nations should endeavor to maintain peace and stability, promote common development, push forward comprehensive cooperation, and respect diversity.
Referring to the achievements China has made over the past 20 years, Jia said China has established a socialist market economy system while the Chinese people are on the whole enjoying a life of moderate prosperity along with progress in all social undertakings in the country.
"China's development is closely linked with Asia's prosperity,"Jia emphasized.
As the largest importer in Asia, China has begun to show its potential as a new major investor and source of outbound tourists.Dedicated to promoting multilateral security cooperation in the region and facilitating peaceful settlement of regional hot-spots,China has made a contribution to peace and stability in the region.
China has also contributed to the regional integration by actively participating in Asia-based regional economic cooperation,he added.
"China's development is a peaceful one. Deeply seated in China's history is a cultural tradition that honors promises and promotes harmony among all nations. The humiliation and bullying they were subjected to in the past have made the Chinese people cherish all the more dearly their sovereignty, peace and stability," said Jia.
At present, development is of overriding importance. China willstay on the path of peaceful development, devoting all of its resources to development.
"There is neither reason nor possibility for us to threaten anyone," he said, adding that China will never seek hegemony even if it gets more developed in the future. "This is our solemn pledge that will never change."
A stable, open and prosperous China is bound to make even greater contribution to peace and development in Asia, Jia said.
The opening ceremony of 2005 BFA annual conference was presidedby BFA General-Secretary Long Yongtu. Chairman of the BFA board Fidel Ramos delivered a welcoming speech. The theme of the annual event is Asia Searching for Win-Win: New Role of Asia.
Home>News Center>China
Jia: Building harmonious, prosperous Asia
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-04-23 13:47
BOAO, Hainan -- Chinese top state advisor Jia Qinglin Saturday called on Asian countries to promote cooperation in building a harmonious and prosperous Asia.
China "is committed to developing good-neighborly relationship and partnership" with other Asian countries for this purpose, said Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, in a keynote speech at the opening of the 2005 annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA).
Jia told the audience of more than 1,200 political leaders, business people, experts and scholars that China is committed to developing good-neighborly relationship and partnership by constantly deepening friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation with other Asian countries.
The celebrities attending the annual conference, held in this coastal town of southernmost China's Hainan Province, include Australian Premier John Howard, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Shussel, King Gyanendra of Nepal, Afghanistan Vice President AbdulKarim Khalili, Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Acting Chief-Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuan of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
"Right now, Asia is faced with a historic opportunity for development," as all Asian peoples share the aspiration for peace,stability, development and cooperation, said Jia.
Against the backdrop of surging economic globalization, many Asian countries have succeeded in restructuring their economies, accelerated their industrial upgrading, increased the level of science and technology and maintained the development momentum.
In the process of regional integration, the Asian countries have found themselves increasingly interdependent through closer dialogue and coordination, visibly improved capacity of fending off risks with a burgeoning regional network of cooperation, he said.
However, Jia said, Asia is also faced with numerous difficulties and challenges. "Historical disputes and present conflicts are eroding the mutual trust among certain countries. Traditional and non-traditional security threats, ranging from regional hot-spots and terrorism to transnational crimes are intertwined to render Asia insecure."
Other problems, such as ecological degradation, natural disasters, communicable diseases and widening wealth gap are also drags on Asia's development, Jia said.
Facing both opportunities and challenges, Jia suggested, "we should build a harmonious Asia where countries coexist in amity politically, conduct equal-footed and mutually beneficial cooperation economically, trust one another with close coordination on security matters, and complement each other culturally."
Jia said that Asian nations should endeavor to maintain peace and stability, promote common development, push forward comprehensive cooperation, and respect diversity.
Referring to the achievements China has made over the past 20 years, Jia said China has established a socialist market economy system while the Chinese people are on the whole enjoying a life of moderate prosperity along with progress in all social undertakings in the country.
"China's development is closely linked with Asia's prosperity,"Jia emphasized.
As the largest importer in Asia, China has begun to show its potential as a new major investor and source of outbound tourists.Dedicated to promoting multilateral security cooperation in the region and facilitating peaceful settlement of regional hot-spots,China has made a contribution to peace and stability in the region.
China has also contributed to the regional integration by actively participating in Asia-based regional economic cooperation,he added.
"China's development is a peaceful one. Deeply seated in China's history is a cultural tradition that honors promises and promotes harmony among all nations. The humiliation and bullying they were subjected to in the past have made the Chinese people cherish all the more dearly their sovereignty, peace and stability," said Jia.
At present, development is of overriding importance. China willstay on the path of peaceful development, devoting all of its resources to development.
"There is neither reason nor possibility for us to threaten anyone," he said, adding that China will never seek hegemony even if it gets more developed in the future. "This is our solemn pledge that will never change."
A stable, open and prosperous China is bound to make even greater contribution to peace and development in Asia, Jia said.
The opening ceremony of 2005 BFA annual conference was presidedby BFA General-Secretary Long Yongtu. Chairman of the BFA board Fidel Ramos delivered a welcoming speech. The theme of the annual event is Asia Searching for Win-Win: New Role of Asia.
China, Australia agree to free trade talks
China, Australia agree to free trade talks
Home>News Center>World
China, Australia agree to free trade talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-18 22:09
BEIJING - China and Australia signed an agreement to begin negotiations on a free trade pact, with visiting Prime Minister John Howard also announcing Canberra's recognition of China as free market economy.
A memorandum of understanding on the free trade talks was signed following a meeting between Howard and his counterpart Wen Jiabao in the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.
China's President Hu Jintao (R) talks with visiting Australia's Prime Minister John Howard during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing April 18, 2005. [Reuters]
"Australia has decided to recognize China as a complete market economy," Howard was quoted by China Central Television as telling Wen.
"We hope to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement and deepen economic and trade cooperation."
Wen said China was willing to move forward with the free trade process, but also underscored the need to build up more political trust between the two countries and seek to consult each other on regional security issues, the report said.
"Under the complex international situation, the deepening of Sino-Australian relations is not only in the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries, but is also in the interests of peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region," Wen was quoted as saying.
Howard arrived in China for a visit Monday, expressing caution over the prospects for a free trade deal with Asia's fastest growing economy.
Canberra has insisted that any agreement be comprehensive, with no sensitive sectors excluded, and in return agreed to recognise that Beijing had reached "market economy" status.
The status is crucial for China's World Trade Organization undertakings as it will give Beijing a better basis to negotiate trade disputes.
"I realize the importance of Australia recognizing the market economic status of China," Howard said in late talks with President Hu Jintao.
"The agreement that the premier and I reached is historic. It is the first agreement to negotiate an FTA between China and a fully developed country."
Hu also praised the agreement, saying the deal was in the interests of both.
In remarks before his departure for China, Howard sought to lower expectations that a deal was inevitable.
"I want to stress that whatever happens on the free trade agreement front, Australia has a huge and positive and growing trade relationship with China," he told reporters in the northern city of Darwin.
"That sort of relationship can go on, but if we can improve it and make it even better by reaching a free trade agreement, well, we certainly intend to do so."
Even without any deal, China would remain a massive market for Australia's mineral resources, said Howard.
According to Chinese statistics, two way trade between China and Australia reached nearly 20.4 billion dollars in 2004, up 50 percent from the year earlier and double the figure in 2002.
China is now Australia's third largest trading partner.
In 2004, Australia's exports to China grew to 12 billion Australian dollars (9.3 billion US), with resources accounting for about 60 percent, Australian statistics show.
Last week Australia agreed to negotiate a free trade deal with Malaysia while it already has FTAs with Thailand, Singapore, the United States and New Zealand.
Howard's two-leg China trip, from April 18-24, will be broken up by a visit to Tokyo starting on Tuesday. Howard is expected to be back in China on April 22 to attend the annual Boao Forum for Asia in southern China's Hainan province.
The visit is his fifth trip to China as Australia's prime minister.
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China, Australia agree to free trade talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-18 22:09
BEIJING - China and Australia signed an agreement to begin negotiations on a free trade pact, with visiting Prime Minister John Howard also announcing Canberra's recognition of China as free market economy.
A memorandum of understanding on the free trade talks was signed following a meeting between Howard and his counterpart Wen Jiabao in the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.
China's President Hu Jintao (R) talks with visiting Australia's Prime Minister John Howard during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing April 18, 2005. [Reuters]
"Australia has decided to recognize China as a complete market economy," Howard was quoted by China Central Television as telling Wen.
"We hope to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement and deepen economic and trade cooperation."
Wen said China was willing to move forward with the free trade process, but also underscored the need to build up more political trust between the two countries and seek to consult each other on regional security issues, the report said.
"Under the complex international situation, the deepening of Sino-Australian relations is not only in the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries, but is also in the interests of peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region," Wen was quoted as saying.
Howard arrived in China for a visit Monday, expressing caution over the prospects for a free trade deal with Asia's fastest growing economy.
Canberra has insisted that any agreement be comprehensive, with no sensitive sectors excluded, and in return agreed to recognise that Beijing had reached "market economy" status.
The status is crucial for China's World Trade Organization undertakings as it will give Beijing a better basis to negotiate trade disputes.
"I realize the importance of Australia recognizing the market economic status of China," Howard said in late talks with President Hu Jintao.
"The agreement that the premier and I reached is historic. It is the first agreement to negotiate an FTA between China and a fully developed country."
Hu also praised the agreement, saying the deal was in the interests of both.
In remarks before his departure for China, Howard sought to lower expectations that a deal was inevitable.
"I want to stress that whatever happens on the free trade agreement front, Australia has a huge and positive and growing trade relationship with China," he told reporters in the northern city of Darwin.
"That sort of relationship can go on, but if we can improve it and make it even better by reaching a free trade agreement, well, we certainly intend to do so."
Even without any deal, China would remain a massive market for Australia's mineral resources, said Howard.
According to Chinese statistics, two way trade between China and Australia reached nearly 20.4 billion dollars in 2004, up 50 percent from the year earlier and double the figure in 2002.
China is now Australia's third largest trading partner.
In 2004, Australia's exports to China grew to 12 billion Australian dollars (9.3 billion US), with resources accounting for about 60 percent, Australian statistics show.
Last week Australia agreed to negotiate a free trade deal with Malaysia while it already has FTAs with Thailand, Singapore, the United States and New Zealand.
Howard's two-leg China trip, from April 18-24, will be broken up by a visit to Tokyo starting on Tuesday. Howard is expected to be back in China on April 22 to attend the annual Boao Forum for Asia in southern China's Hainan province.
The visit is his fifth trip to China as Australia's prime minister.
Comment on this article
Close
Today's Top News Top World News
China tells Japan: Take 'concrete actions' on history
Hu invites Taiwan PFP chair to mainland
Japan foreign policy grates Asia neighbors
PM refutes EU arms embargo comments
Olympic Games advisers win new positions
People urged to maintain social stability
Peace process "irreversible", say India and Pakistan
Italy's government on brink of collapse
North Korea halts nuclear reactor - Seoul
Japan foreign policy grates Asia neighbors
Iraq kidnap reports may be exaggerated
Rice to balance democracy, terror war with Russia
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
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