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ASEM in Its Tenth Year Looking Back, Looking Forward ASEM in its Tenth Year Looking Back, Looking Forward An evaluation of ASEM in its first decade and an exploration of its future possibilities European Background Study March 2006 University of Helsinki Network for European Studies ASEM in its Tenth Year: Looking Back, Looking Forward An evaluation of ASEM in its first decade and an exploration of its future possibilities EUROPEAN BACKGROUND STUDY Table of Contents Preface 5 Introduction 7 Chapter I History and Background 12 1. Before ASEM: Features of the EU-Asia Relationship during the Cold War era 12 1.1 General overview 12 1.2 Relations with individual countries 13 1.3 Interregional relations 15 2. The change: The EU’s new recognition of Asia, the New Asia Strategy (1994), and the birth of ASEM 16 2.1 “Towards a New Asia Strategy” 17 2.2 The role of leading EU Member States 19 2.3 Motivations for the creation of ASEM from the European perspective 22 2.4 The formulation of the official EU policy: constitutive decisions on ASEM 29 3. A brief overview of ten years of ASEM summitry 31 Chapter II Political dialogue 34 1. Human rights in the EU – Asia dialogue 37 1.1 Human rights in the ASEM process 38 1.2 International Criminal Court - Asia-Europe positions 45 2. The emerging role of security issues 47 2.1 Regional conflicts 48 2.2 War on terrorism 50 2.3 Non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) 53 2.4 Global threats of common concern 54 2 2.5 Security issues never discussed in the ASEM dialogue 57 2.6 Assessment of the security dialogue 58 3. Multilateralism and the reform of the United Nations 60 4. Environmental issues 64 4.1 Overview 64 4.2 Assessment 68 5. Concluding remarks 69 Chapter III Economy and trade 72 1. Aims, objectives and expectations in the field of ASEM economy and trade 72 2. General assessment of achievements and initiatives related to economic cooperation, trade, investment and the participation of the private sectors 77 2.1 The Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP) 77 2.2 The Investment Promotion Action Plan (IPAP) 81 2.3 The Asia-Europe Business Forum (AEBF) 84 2.4 The EU reaction to the Asian economic and financial crisis 89 2.5 “Track two” economic cooperation and think tank initiatives 91 3. ASEM in the bilateral and multilateral framework 93 3.1 Enhancement of existing bilateral country-to-country and region-to-region relations 93 3.2 ASEM in the multilateral order 98 4. Overview of trade and investment (FDI) relations between Europe and Asia 101 5. Concluding remarks 105 Chapter IV Social/cultural dialogue 111 1. General overview 111 2. Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) 114 3. Engaging civil society 118 4. Dialogue on cultures and civilizations 128 5. Other issues 131 6. Assessment and concluding remarks 133 3 Chapter V ASEM as A Part of the EU system 137 1. Introduction 137 2. ASEM in the overall EU-Asian relations 137 3. ASEM - institutional challenges in the EU 144 4. The Political Challenges of ASEM 147 5. Conclusions 150 Chapter VI Format, institutional questions and working methods 153 1. Introduction to the institutional framework in the pillars 154 2. Informality and the “Asian-style” approach 157 3. Management 162 3.1 Coordination 162 3.2 Representation and attendance 166 3.3 Meetings 169 4. Link between initiatives, declarations and follow-up 171 4.1 Initiatives 171 4.2 Chairman’s Statements and Political Declarations 177 5. Visibility and public awareness of ASEM 180 6. Enlargement 184 6.1 Overview 184 6.2 Challenges 186 Conclusion 193 Bibliography 199 4 Preface The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2006. The Meeting’s founding father, Singapore’s former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, suggested in September 1994 to bridge the gap in interactions between Asia and Europe by establishing an institutional framework for the two regions to systematically engage each other. His idea came at the right time for Europe, since awareness had grown that “the rise of Asia is dramatically changing the world balance of economic power”, as the EU’s New Asia Strategy phrased it. The first Asia-Europe Meeting, held in Bangkok in March 1996, was heralded as a major success. Characterized by an optimistic spirit of co-operation the meeting was perceived as a first step towards filling in the “missing link” in the triadic economic international structure. The sixth ASEM Summit to be held in Helsinki in September 2006 will mark a decade of a multidimensional dialogue which has broadened far beyond the initial focus on economy and trade, and which has given rise to hundreds of wide-ranging collaborative initiatives between the two regions. Anniversaries provide excellent opportunities for a reflection on the past, present and future. Many participants directly involved in the ASEM process as well as outside observers deem the time ripe for an evaluation of the first decade of this still young interregional dialogue forum, and for a careful consideration of the process’s future possibilities. Has ASEM lived up to the initial expectations of the partnership? Are its working methods still as valid as ten years ago? Has it played a relevant role as a major international cooperation structure? Does ASEM at present reflect the full global strategic potential of Asia-Europe relations in general? In order to assess ASEM’s achievements and ascertain the way forward, Japan and Finland submitted a proposal, endorsed by the 7th ASEM Foreign Ministers Meeting (Kyoto, May 2005), to jointly produce an objective think-tank report. The present study is the European background analysis that formed the basis for the drafting of that joint report and common conclusions. It looks back on the Meeting’s history, philosophy, activities, position within the EU, and working methods in order to formulate recommendations for the future from a European perspective. Research for the study and analysis of the data took place between June 2005 and February 2006. Research material was gathered from EU-related sources, in 5 addition to publications by leading European experts. Interviews were conducted with EU officials, independent think tanks and key parties, and consultation of all the EU Members States took place through a written questionnaire. In addition an international conference, bringing together leading academics in the field of international relations and government officials involved in the ASEM process, was organized in September 2005 in Helsinki. The Finnish research team was led by Dr Teija Tiilikainen, Director of the University of Helsinki Network for European Studies and Dr Timo Kivimäki, Senior Researcher at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. The researchers were Dr Bart Gaens and M.Soc.Sc. Silja Keva from the University of Helsinki. The research group would like to express its sincere gratitude to all the EU and government officials, and to all the academic experts who provided guidance and insightful remarks through interviews and questionnaires. Special thanks are due to all the speakers, commentators and participants of the “Ten Years of ASEM” conference. The research team is responsible for all opinions expressed in this study, and also for any of its shortcomings and mistakes. Helsinki, March 2006. 6 Introduction The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) began in March 1996 with an inaugural summit of leaders from ASEAN, China, Japan and Korea, and from the EU member states and the European Commission. ASEM’s official goal was to achieve a new comprehensive “Asia-Europe Partnership for Greater Growth” and to strengthen multidimensional cooperation. For Europe the underlying logic was rooted in the grown awareness of Asia’s global economic weight and the inadequate involvement of the EU in Asia, particularly when compared with the US and its connection to the Asia-Pacific through APEC. The birth of ASEM in 1996 marked the turning of a new page in Asia-Europe relations, and was accompanied by great expectations. The ASEM dialogue forum, the instrument for this new start, was inaugurated as a new and innovative player in the field of interregional relations, displaying a distinct character. This individuality reveals itself first of all in membership, which is marked by a certain degree of asymmetry and exclusion. The original ASEM documents reveal an ambiguous relationship towards the agents of dialogue. The name Asia-Europe Meeting suggests that it aims to function as a forum for interregional cooperation between Asia and Europe. This interpretation is apparent in key documents such as the Asia-Europe Cooperation Framework (AECF). The reality is, of course, much more complex1. “Europe”, represented by the member states of the EU and the European Commission (a separate and equal partner in its own right), embodies a coherent regional agency on account of the EU’s institutional character. “Asia” on the other hand is represented by the ASEAN partners in addition to China, Japan and South-Korea, a grouping of countries which as ASEAN+3 forms the focal point for the emerging construction of an East Asian regional identity as a counterpart to Europe in ASEM. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Asian agency is limited by the absence of an all-Asian organization that could be considered as a prerequisite for participation as a coherent and politically integrated bloc in ASEM. Furthermore with regard to membership, exclusion and the construction of difference are as at least as important as inclusion and official membership. ASEM is in the first place a dialogue forum without the US, and the initial European motives to create ASEM included the intention to counterbalance the strong economic presence in Asia of the only remaining 1 Yeo 2003; Stokhof, van der Velde and Yeo 2004.
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