NOV 2 — Asean leaders met in the Thai resort area of Hua Hin and Cha Am last month. They met first among themselves and then with the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea, together and individually, in the East Asia Summit of the Asean countries, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

Under the Asean Charter, which came into force last December, the Asean leaders are to meet twice a year. It is understood that the first meeting, held earlier this year, dealt with internal Asean matters of political cohesion, economic integration and regional cooperation, while the second, which took place two weekends ago, involved Asean's partners in Northeast Asia and India and in the East Asia Summit.

A clear milestone reached by this summit was the establishment of the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. Unthinkable only a few years ago, the new body is to “promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms” in the region.

In moving regional economic integration forward, the Asean leaders focused their discussions on the issue of connectivity — in land, sea and air transport, gas pipelines and telecommunications. This is pertinent, given that almost all of intra-Asean trade is no longer subject to import duties; indeed, most Asean countries' external tariffs are already extremely low.

Nevertheless, much of the media coverage of the Asean Summit dealt with the old issue of Philippine tariffs on its importation of rice, mainly from Thailand, beyond the duty-free quota, ignoring the fact that more than 90 per cent of intra-Asean trade is now free of duty.

Extending economic integration beyond Southeast Asia, Asean has concluded free-trade agreements with China, Japan, South Korea, India, and Australia and New Zealand. At the Hua Hin summit, Asean and China arrived at joint decisions to step up cooperation on intellectual property and product standards, technical regulations and conformity assessments.

They also agreed to set up soon an Asean Centre in Beijing to promote commercial, investment, tourism, educational and cultural exchanges similar to the long-existent centre in Tokyo and the newer one in Seoul.

Asean's leaders and those of Australia and New Zealand looked forward to the entry into force at the beginning of next year of their hefty comprehensive economic partnership agreement, which would not only liberalise trade among their countries but also lower other barriers to that trade, protect investments, and provide for technical assistance.

With their Northeast Asian partners in Asean Plus Three, Asean has now in place a multilateralised and enlarged pool of hard-currency reserves designed to give support to countries hit by balance-of-payments difficulties.

Although expanded, the amount available — US$120 billion (RM420 billion), to which Japan and China, including Hong Kong, are the largest contributors — is considered small and has thus not been used. However, it is something to build on.

At their summit, the Asean leaders also welcomed the continued participation in the Group of 20 (G-20) summit of their chairman (Vietnam next year) and the Asean secretary-general, who were both at the second and third meetings in London and Pittsburgh.

This circumstance calls for sharper and well-considered Asean positions on the weighty issues facing the G-20, which, in Pittsburgh, designated itself as the primary consultative forum for international economic matters.

In the light of Asean's ability to draw the cooperation of the major powers in Asia and Oceania — and, through the Asean Regional Forum and the Asean Dialogue Partner system, the United States and Russia — it is difficult to understand why there have been calls of late for the replacement of the Asean-centred mechanisms, flexible and pragmatic, by a new regional “architecture”.

In Indonesia, some voices have called for Jakarta to go beyond Asean and pursue its national interests in larger forums involving weightier actors than those in Southeast Asia. However, Indonesia — which, because of the size of its economy and its political weight, is vital to Asean — has always played a prominent role in the United Nations and its subsidiary bodies, the Non-aligned Movement and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, as well as Asean itself. It has never confined itself to just Asean.

The Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, has been more direct in proposing an Asia-Pacific community, presumably at the summit level, that would encompass both politico-security and economic issues. Some have pointed to Asean's ineffective leadership of the current forums. Others have cited the unwieldy sizes of the Asean-centred bodies.

The question is, if one were to construct a more “wieldy” mechanism, who would be in and who would be out among the current participants. Another question is what exactly would the functions of the “community” be, functions that are not already being performed by the various forums currently operating. Understandably, the final question is: Would the new body do better than the present ones? — The Straits Times