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Indo-Pacific Economic Framework not a blessing for Asia
The United States claims to support the centrality of ASEAN, yet IPEF apparently takes little heed of ASEAN's preferred way of inclusive regional cooperation.
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New cooperation: Officials of ASEAN member countries, including Indonesian Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi, virtually attend the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, organized by the United States and Japan in Tokyo on Monday. (Tribunnews/Richard Susilo)
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he United States has been trumpeting that its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) will bring prosperity to the region. But its sole purpose is to advance the Indo-Pacific Strategy and key interests of the US instead of driving post-pandemic recovery, development and prosperity of the region.
Asian countries need to brace themselves for the negative impact brought on by the framework which could be summed up as "four Ds": Division, deprivation, deviation and disappointment.
First, IPEF is created to encourage regional economies to "decouple" from the Chinese market by leading them to alternative supply chains, a step that Washington believes will help exclude China from the regional trading and supply systems.
This would essentially install a closed, exclusive and confrontational arrangement within this region designed with clear geopolitical and ideological intentions, which runs counter to the principles of multilateralism.
The US Trade Representative Katherine Tai has openly described the IPEF as an "arrangement independent of China".
Given China's economic size and influence in the region and the possible consequences of artificially splitting the trading system and cutting off supply chains, such an arrangement would not be conducive to the unity and regional economic integration of the Asia-Pacific.
There are speculations that as far as ASEAN countries are concerned, the US is trying to recruit Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam to join IPEF, while leaving out Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei, which will undoubtedly affect the development of the ASEAN Community and undermine the unity of ASEAN.
