M

ember countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should put more emphasis on the centrality of ASEAN as they are moving towards reaching an agreement on mega-free trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), an American scholar said.

“A strong case can be made for ASEAN centrality,” Michael G. Plummer from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, told the SEASIA 2017 Conference in Bangkok on Sunday.

For many years, Indonesia —the de facto leader of ASEAN — had been campaigning strongly for ASEAN’s centrality in all of the regional initiatives.

Both the RCEP and CPTPP initiatives, which Plummer prefers to call the symbols of a megaregionalism in the Asia-Pacific region, would benefit ASEAN economies in a significant way.

“The overall effects of these initiatives are large and increasing in additional members, with gains driven by trade.

“New rules become global standards,” he said.

Echoing a similar view, another scholar said the mega free trade agreements (FTAs) are essential to reshape global trade and establish a liberalized global mechanism.

“Mega FTAs emerged to fill the gap in global governance and reshape the world economic order,” Lurong Chen, from the Jakarta-based Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), said at the conference.

Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, has agreed to the RCEP but may not join CPTPP.

Initially it planned to join the original Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but later canceled its plan after United States President Donald Trump announced in January that the US would not join the TPP, saying that it would not be in the interest of the US.

The second SEASIA Conference, which has a theme of “Unity in Diversity: Transgressive Southeast Asia,” was opened by Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn at Chulalongkorn University on Saturday.

With a record 58 panels covering subjects like economy, politics, defense, culture, arts and climate change, etc, the two-day international conference was attended by 200 participants from 31 countries, including Indonesia.

“The SEASIA Conference offers a platform [for scholars from Southeast Asia and East Asia] to exchange ideas and discuss a broad spectrum of topics featuring the latest developments in our region,” Nualnoi Treerat, the chairperson of the Chulalongkorn University Conference Committee for the SEASIA 2017 Conference, said in a statement.

There is a good news for Indonesia.

The governing board of the Consortium for Southeast Asian Studies in Asia (SEASIA), the organizer of the SEASIA 2017 Conference, announced on Saturday that the fourth SEASIA Conference would be held in Jakarta in 2021. The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) will be the host.

The third SEASIA Conference will be held in Taiwan in 2019.