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Differences hinder Asia-Pacific bloc
Lack of communalism and enormous economic gaps are the major speed bumps on the road to creating an Asia-Pacific community seeking to develop into a bloc similar to the European Union
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Lack of communalism and enormous economic gaps are the major speed bumps on the road to creating an Asia-Pacific community seeking to develop into a bloc similar to the European Union.
The idea for an Asia-Pacific union was proposed Wednesday by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who said while regional bodies like ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) had achieved much, there was a need for a region-wide architecture to tackle the growing challenges of the Asia-Pacific century.
Rudd said the bloc, which should be in place by 2020, should encourage cooperation and action on economic, political and security issues, but also develop a "genuine and comprehensive sense of community".
"A bloc of Asia-Pacific nations would be tremendously difficult because each of them is very different in ethnicity, politics and economy," Primo Alui Joelianto, the director general for Asia-Pacific and African Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, said Thursday.
"And then there's a question of whether the motivation is really to seek equal growth among members."
He said existing regional bodies, such as ASEAN and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), were still struggling to be relevant.
A consultation forum on regional security, ARF includes all 10 members of ASEAN as well as Russia, China, Japan, India, Australia, the United States and the EU.
Dewi Fortuna Anwar, an international relations analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said the proposal could be aimed at countering the EU, which unseated the U.S. as the world's largest economy last year.
"Politically, an Asia-Pacific bloc would face obstacles in the form of different political cultures. Economically, I think the region should hold on to APEC and return to its initial goals of boosting economic development," she said.
Dewi said APEC forums had been hijacked by political issues in the past few years since the start of the U.S.'s war on terror, resulting in the forum straying from its economic objectives.
Lawmaker Theo Sambuaga, chairman of House Commission I overseeing defense and foreign affairs, concurred with the likely political stumbling blocks and said it would be best for major powers to help pursue a greater role for ASEAN.
"One of ASEAN's goals is to be fully integrated with a wider participation in the Asia-Pacific region. That's why ASEAN has forums such as ASEAN +3 and the East Asia Summit," he said.
Theo added an Asia-Pacific bloc structured like the EU would not be effective.
Prime Minister Rudd, who has sought to forge closer ties with the region since coming to power last November, will travel to Japan and Indonesia this month after visiting China earlier this year.
On Thursday, China expressed its support for Rudd's idea and said Asia-Pacific countries should make joint efforts to enhance exchanges, the AP reported.
