DOCSLIB.ORG

REGIONAL SECURITY in EAST ASIA: Challenges to Cooperation and Community Building

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
REGIONAL SECURITY in EAST ASIA: Challenges to Cooperation and Community Building REGIONAL SECURITY IN EAST ASIA: Challenges to Cooperation and Community Building ^ Introduction AILEEN S.P. BAVIERA IN NOVEMBER 2007, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) marked forty years of existence and its ten member states signed an ASEAN Charter that would provide the legal and institutional framework for the organization. The Charter, in its preamble, refers to their commitment to “intensifying community building through enhanced regional cooperation and integration, in particular by establishing an ASEAN Community comprising the ASEAN Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community, and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, as provided for in the Bali Declaration of ASEAN Concord II.” Even while it has taken ASEAN forty years to institute a formal framework that would henceforth direct its efforts at building a Southeast Asian community, it has also been at the hub of parallel initiatives to involve other regional countries in multilateral cooperative arrangements, including the ASEAN Regional Forum, the ASEAN Plus Three, and most recently the East Asia Summit which is expected to pave the way for a putative East Asian Community. Beyond East Asia, ASEAN is actively engaged in trans- regional dialogues including the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the Forum for East Asia and Latin American Countries (FEALAC), giving substance to its principle of open regionalism. A number of new trends and developments appear to be pushing the East Asian community building project forward. At the global or trans- regional level, these include the perceived shortcomings, in the face of increasing interdependence and globalization, of more comprehensive regimes such as World Trade Organization and APEC, or even the United Nations, in addressing the challenges of building the post-Cold War 1 Introduction REGIONAL SECURITY IN EAST ASIA: AILEEN S.P. BAVIERA Challenges to Cooperation and Community Building architecture for international politics and the international economy. By their Amitav Acharya, in Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: default, states are opting for smaller and more manageable arenas where ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order (Routledge, 2001) examines the both collective rule-making and the promotion of national interests may be extent to which ASEAN may already have become a “security community”, effectively pursued. Regionally, the more important factors driving an East as “a group of states which have developed a long-term habit of peaceful Asian community at this historical juncture include the rapid pace of economic interaction and ruled out the use of force in settling disputes with other integration taking place, the rise of China and the strong need perceived by members of the group”. Acharya uses as his starting point the definition neighboring states to engage it, the weakened resistance by the United States developed by Karl Deutsch and others in the 1950s, which looks at a security to the idea of a regional grouping that does not formally include it, and community as the terminal point or end product of a process of integration 1 crucially, ASEAN’s willingness to play the role of a norm-entrepreneur that was originally intended to help cope with conflicts that arise from and organizer of the community building efforts, and other countries’ increased transactions and interactions among states. Acharya concludes, willingness to accept such a role. however, that the ASEAN approach to regional integration was different There are indeed indications that community building is being driven by from what Deutsch understood of a security community, with cooperation different and at times seemingly contradictory forces, such as the need to being pursued even in the absence of high levels of interaction, and the hedge against uncertainty – emanating from what Peou in this volume calls vision of community preceding the reality of interdependence. This, he the Hobbesian/Lockean viewpoint, and on the other hand, the Kantian desire attributes to ASEAN’s institution of norms of acceptable behavior, including to construct a new social reality characterized by inter-state cooperation and non-interference in internal affairs, non-use of force, avoidance of collective harmony. Most authors in this volume also emphasize that community building defense and the practice of the “ASEAN Way”. In turn, these norms in East Asia is work in progress, and moreover still in its early stages, being contributed to the development of a regional identity. neither irreversible nor hopeless. But the careful analyses devoted by our chapter The present collection of essays looks beyond the ASEAN security 2 3 writers – and many others now adding to the growing literature on regional community that Amitav Acharya, Jurgen Haacke , and Rizal Sukma among communities – give us a sense that we are standing witness to an important others, problematize, to explore the possibility that a broader East Asian security new phenomenon, perhaps one that may even have the potential to transform community might also come into being in the future. In comparison with international politics as we know it. And perhaps not. ASEAN’s forty years of evolution and to the even older concept of “Southeast How ASEAN defines its own community building process in terms of Asia” as a region, the concept of “East Asia” as a socially constructed - or the three pillars – security community, economic community and socio- imagined - collective entity encompassing both the states of Southeast Asia cultural community – raises interesting questions about the divisibility of and those of Northeast Asia is not necessarily of recent vintage. Long before such a process, or from the opposite view, the connectedness of their Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s doomed proposal for the respective goals of peace, development, and concord or harmony. While it formation of an East Asia Economic Grouping (EAEG) in 1990, Japan in may be conceivable to attain one goal ahead of the others, it seems close to the 1940s also had its dreams of leading a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity impossible to imagine how any one of them might be sustained without Sphere”, whose association with imperialism, wartime expansion and attainment of the other two. Indivisibility and interconnectedness aside, one domination had of course consigned it to the dustbin of history. must acknowledge that it is in the domain of security where the community It was not until 1995 that the first collective, inter-governmental interactions building process in this and many other regions of the world encounters the exclusively involving ASEAN, China, Japan and Korea took place, spurred most obstacles and pitfalls. Power rivalries, territorial and boundary disputes, by the need for these countries to coordinate their positions preparatory to arms races, terrorism, human trafficking, resource competition are but some the first Asia-Europe Meeting held in 1996. Subsequently, the 1997 Asian of the extant issues that come to mind. Financial Crisis and the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) crisis 2 3 Introduction REGIONAL SECURITY IN EAST ASIA: AILEEN S.P. BAVIERA Challenges to Cooperation and Community Building underscored the importance of longer-term policy coordination among these or a “non-war” community in the East Asian region (consisting principally of countries, leading to the regularization of their meetings into what became the ASEAN Plus Three, while keeping an open mind to possible expanded billed as the ASEAN Plus Three. The first ASEAN Plus Three Summit was configurations). It traces its origins to an international conference organized in held in Manila in 1999, and since then there have been frequent meetings and November 2006 by the Asian Center, University of the Philippines, not th nd agreements on a wide range of issues at different levels of policy making. An coincidentally during the run-up to the 12 ASEAN Summit and the 2 East East Asia Vision Group (EAVG) was established upon the recommendation Asia Summit which were held in Cebu City in January 2007. of South Korean President Kim Dae Jung in 1998, and subsequently an East The conference, which was supported by the Japan Foundation, pursued Asia Study Group (EASG) was formed, both in order to consider specific a number of objectives. It sought: (1) to review the concept of “security areas for ASEAN Plus Three cooperation. In the process, a decision was communities” and its relevance for East Asia; (2) to compare security made to convene an East Asia Summit as a step toward building an East perspectives and strategic cultures across the East Asian region; (3) to explore Asian community. It was understood, however that the community building viable areas and modalities of multilateral security cooperation in East Asia; process would be a gradual process and that the East Asian community (initially and (4) to examine the role and impact of actors outside East Asia on East referred to as “community” in lower case “c”, rather than as “Community”) Asian community building efforts. would be a long-term goal. Since the “East Asian Community” or EAC remains a long-term goal, to These early efforts in visioning a shared future for East Asia were taking speak of an East Asian security community at this time may seem to some place against the backdrop of heightening tensions between the region’s two observers little more than an exploratory exercise, especially as ASEAN itself,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dr Nguyen Phuong Binh IIR, Vietnam Introdu
    SESSION SEVEN Mapping the Second Decade of East Asian Community Building (Draft only) Dr Nguyen Phuong Binh IIR, Vietnam Introduction: East Asia has become an increasingly significant region for trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) penetration. Among the top 10 global trading economies (with EU 27 counted as one), half are from East Asia. China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore are respectively, the world’s third, fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth biggest traders. East Asia’s new influence is not only being felt in the global economy, but also in politics, culture and technology. The region’s economic weight gives it a voice and a role in Asia - Pacific and the world stage. With the first ASEAN plus 3 (China, Japan and South Korea) informal meeting in Kuala Lumpur in December 1997 and the first East Asia Summit in 2005, the ASEAN plus 3 process has been under way and the East Asian Community building (ASEAN plus 3 plus Australia, New Zealand and India) is evolving. Directions and suggestions for mapping the second decade of East Asian Community building will be partly discussed in this paper. Reviewing East Asia Cooperation Process: In the past ten years, many cooperation mechanisms have been set up and consolidated by regional countries. In political and security cooperation: East Asian summit, ASEAN Plus Three cooperation, Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), etc. In economic and financial cooperation: East Asian Finance Ministers’ Meeting, currency swap and bond market, Asian currency unit, GMS, and East Asian Economic Community, etc. These cooperation mechanisms not only brought about mutual benefits to participating states, but also forged better understanding and closer relations among them in spite of their differences as to the levels of economic development, political regime, religion and culture.
    [Show full text]
  • Realizing the Low-Carbon Future
    GLOBAL SOLUTIONS JOURNAL ∙ ISSUE 5 BEYOND GREENWASHING: INSTRUMENTS TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE AND PROTECT THE PLANET’S RESOURCES cording to 2017 data, the US still produces that a low-carbon transition could require Realizing the twice as much as carbon dioxide per capita $3.5 trillion in energy sector investments as China and nearly nine times as much every year for decades – twice the current as India, highlighting the increased envi- rate. Under the agency’s scenario, in order low-carbon future ronmental impact of higher standards of for carbon emissions to stabilize by 2050, living. All of this means the Paris Climate nearly 95% of the electricity supply must Agreement’s goal of limiting the global be low carbon, 70% of new cars must be What role for central banks and monetary temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Cel- electric, and the carbon-dioxide intensity sius could be a pipe dream if energy in- of the building sector must fall by 80%. authorities? vestments worldwide do not change. For markets to anticipate and smooth The economy-wide changes needed to the transition to a low-carbon world, they attain a low-carbon future are enormous: need information, proper risk manage- a massive reallocation of capital is need- ment and coherent, credible public-policy The author: ABSTRACT ed, which presents unprecedent risks and frameworks. That could be strengthened Placing both advanced and developing opportunities to the financial system. The by central banks and monetary authori- Venkatachalam countries on a low-carbon path requires International Energy Agency estimates ties. Anbumozhi an unprecedented shift in private invest- Senior Energy Economist, ments and new financing models.
    [Show full text]
  • Asia-Europe Connectivity Vision 2025
    Asia–Europe Connectivity Vision 2025 Challenges and Opportunities The Asia–Europe Meeting (ASEM) enters into its third decade with commitments for a renewed and deepened engagement between Asia and Europe. After 20 years, and with tremendous global and regional changes behind it, there is a consensus that ASEM must bring out a new road map of Asia–Europe connectivity and cooperation. It is commonly understood that improved connectivity and increased cooperation between Europe and Asia require plans that are both sustainable and that can be upscaled. Asia–Europe Connectivity Vision 2025: Challenges and Opportunities, a joint work of ERIA and the Government of Mongolia for the 11th ASEM Summit 2016 in Ulaanbaatar, provides the ideas for an ASEM connectivity road map for the next decade which can give ASEM a unity of purpose comparable to, if not more advanced than, the integration and cooperation efforts in other regional groups. ASEM has the platform to create a connectivity blueprint for Asia and Europe. This ASEM Connectivity Vision Document provides the template for this blueprint. About ERIA The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) was established at the Third East Asia Summit (EAS) in Singapore on 21 November 2007. It is an international organisation providing research and policy support to the East Asia region, and the ASEAN and EAS summit process. The 16 member countries of EAS—Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam, Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, and New Zealand—are members of ERIA. Anita Prakash is the Director General of Policy Department at ERIA.
    [Show full text]
  • East Asia Summit Documents Series, 2005-2014
    East Asia Summit Documents Series 2005 Summit Documents Series Asia - 2014 East East Asia Summit Documents Series 2005-2014 www.asean.org ASEAN one vision @ASEAN one identity one community East Asia Summit (EAS) Documents Series 2005-2014 ASEAN Secretariat Jakarta The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967. The Member States of the Association are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. The ASEAN Secretariat is based in Jakarta, Indonesia. For inquiries, contact: The ASEAN Secretariat Public Outreach and Civil Society Division 70A Jalan Sisingamangaraja Jakarta 12110 Indonesia Phone : (62 21) 724-3372, 726-2991 Fax : (62 21) 739-8234, 724-3504 E-mail : [email protected] Catalogue-in-Publication Data East Asia Summit (EAS) Documents Series 2005-2014 Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat, May 2015 327.59 1. A SEAN – East Asia 2. Declaration – Statement ISBN 978-602-0980-18-8 General information on ASEAN appears online at the ASEAN Website: www.asean.org The text of this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted, provided proper acknowledgement is given and a copy containing the reprinted material is sent to Public Outreach and Civil Society Division of the ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta Copyright Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 2015. All rights reserved 2 (DVW$VLD6XPPLW'RFXPHQWV6HULHV East Asia Summit Documents Series 2005-2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Summit and Ministerial Levels Documents) 2005 Summit Chairman’s Statement of the First East Asia Summit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 14 December 2005 .................................................................................... 9 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the East Asia Summit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 14 December 2005 ...................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment
    SINGAPORE DECLARATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT WE, the Heads of State and Government of the Member Countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, People's Republic of China, Republic of India, Japan, Republic of Korea and New Zealand, on the occasion of the Third East Asia Summit (EAS) in Singapore on 21 November 2007; Welcoming the regional commitment demonstrated in the Cebu Declaration on East Asian Energy Security adopted on 15 January 2007, the APEC Leaders' Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development adopted in Sydney on 8 September 2007, the ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Sustainability and the ASEAN Declaration on the 13th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 3rd Conference of Parties Serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the Kyoto Protocol adopted in Singapore on 20 November 2007; Affirming our commitment to the UNFCCC as the core mechanism for addressing climate change at the global level, and for relevant countries, the Kyoto Protocol as well; Welcoming the Fourth Assessment Report of the Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Concerned about the adverse impact of climate change on socio-economic development, health and the environment, particularly in developing countries and thus emphasising the need to enhance their adaptive capacities, as well as for the international community to urgently act to address the growth of global greenhouse gas
    [Show full text]
  • Insight Southeast Asia
    Vol 2 No 4 September 2013 INSIGHT SOUTHEAST ASIA Looking Eastwards From New Delhi Cover Photo: At Karaweik Palace on Kandawgyi Lake, Yangon Southeast Asia & Oceania Centre Bimonthly Newsletter INSTITUTE FOR DEFENCE STUDIES AND ANALYSES Contents Editor: Editor’s Note Country Profile Dr. Udai Bhanu Singh The Philippines Vietnam Book Review India and Southeast Asia: Shedding Years of Mutual Neglect Editorial Team: Arko Dasgupta Arko Dasgupta News Track ASEAN ASEAN-India Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Southeast Asia and Oceania Centre Singapore Thailand Institute for Defence Vietnam Studies and Analyses Australia No. 1, Development Enclave, Rao New Zealand Tula Ram Marg, Delhi Cantt, New Fiji Delhi – 110 010 Tel. (91-11)2671 7983, Fax: (91-11)2615 4191 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.idsa.in 1 EDITOR’S NOTE nsight Southeast Asia in this issue Minister Sergey Lavrov) were present. This was Icovers the month of July and August. also the occasion for Norway to sign the July has traditionally been a month of Instrument of Accession to the Treaty of Amity hectic diplomatic activity for the ASEAN and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC). leadership and this year was no different. A great deal of churning is in evidence in the India's External Affairs Minister Salman larger Asia Pacific (or Indo-Pacific) region. A Khurshid too was in Brunei to participate transition is on in Myanmar which has in the 11th India-ASEAN ministerial implications not only for its political system but meeting, the third East Asia Summit also its economy and society. Myanmar's ministerial meeting of foreign ministers, biggest challenge is ethnic reconciliation.
    [Show full text]
  • Adopted Joint Statement of the Third East Asia Summit
    ADOPTED JOINT STATEMENT OF THE THIRD EAST ASIA SUMMIT EDUCATION MINISTERS MEETING 26 May 2016, Selangor, Malaysia 1. The Third East Asia Summit Education Ministers Meeting (3rd EAS EMM) was held on 26 May 2016 in Selangor, Malaysia in conjunction with the Ninth ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (9th ASED) and the Third ASEAN Plus Three Education Ministers Meeting (3rd APT EMM). 2. In view of the conclusion of the EAS Education Plan of Action 2011-2015, the Ministers recalled the objective of the first EAS EMM in 2012 which allowed for stocktaking of progress made in education cooperation based on the adopted EAS Education Plan of Action 2011-2015 at that time. The Ministers recapped that the purpose of the Plan of Action 2011-2015 was to explore possibilities of cooperation in education among the EAS participating countries with the aim of further strengthening human resource development in the region. 3. Notwithstanding the expiration of the EAS Education Plan of Action 2011-2015, the Ministers noted the continued implementation of the 15 projects under the Plan of Action, and acknowledged the commitment and efforts of the EAS participating countries in the implementation of the initiatives. The Ministers further agreed that the remaining EAS projects under the Plan of Action 2011-2015 be continued under the leadership of respective EAS participating countries without necessarily involving the collective EAS. 4. The Ministers expressed appreciation to Australia for the review of the EAS Education Plan of Action 2011-2015 which identified some fundamental questions that are intended to assist EAS participating countries to build on the successes and enhance future EAS cooperation on education.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 1: Introduction
    1 Introduction Background to the inquiry 1.1 The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (the Committee) regularly reviews Australia’s relationships with other countries. In recent times it has focused on Australia’s near neighbours such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and New Zealand. This is the first review undertaken by the Committee of Australia’s relationship with ASEAN, an organisation comprising ten countries.1 Importance of the Australia–ASEAN relationship 1.2 ASEAN is an important trading partner for Australia. It has a forecasted combined gross domestic product of US$1450 bn in 2008—a doubling since 2003. The countries of ASEAN are the sixth most important export destination for Australian goods and services, and Australia is the eighth most important source of imports for ASEAN. 1 Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam. 2 1.3 The countries of ASEAN are also of a strategic importance to Australia being our nearest neighbours. Political stability in the region and good international relations with ASEAN countries are therefore integral to Australia’s security and prosperity. History of ASEAN and its relationship with Australia 1.4 ASEAN was created in 1967. Since then, it has undergone considerable development, as has its relationship with Australia and other countries.2 There are four discernable stages in its development to date. 1.5 The first phase of ASEAN’s development spans the 1960s to 1980s. During this period ASEAN was established, developed a working philosophy and began programming a style of meeting that was to form the basis of subsequent interactions between ASEAN members.
    [Show full text]
  • Higher Education in ASEAN
    Higher Education in ASEAN © Copyright, The International Association of Universities (IAU), October, 2016 The contents of the publication may be reproduced in part or in full for non-commercial purposes, provided that reference to IAU and the date of the document is clearly and visibly cited. Publication prepared by Stefanie Mallow, IAU Printed by Suranaree University of Technology On the occasion of Hosted by a consortium of four Thai universities: 2 Foreword The Ninth ASEAN Education Ministers Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF) Meeting (May 2016, in Malaysia), in Governance and Structure, and the plans to conjunction with the Third ASEAN Plus institutionalize the AQRF processes on a Three Education Ministers Meeting, and voluntary basis at the national and regional the Third East Asia Summit of Education levels. All these will help enhance quality, Ministers hold a number of promises. With credit transfer and student mobility, as well as the theme “Fostering ASEAN Community of university collaboration and people-to-people Learners: Empowering Lives through connectivity which are all crucial in realigning Education,” these meetings distinctly the diverse education systems and emphasized children and young people as the opportunities, as well as creating a more collective stakeholders and focus of coordinated, cohesive and coherent ASEAN. cooperation in education in ASEAN and among the Member States. The Ministers also The IAU is particularly pleased to note that the affirmed the important role of education in Meeting approved the revised Charter of the promoting a better quality of life for children ASEAN University Network (AUN), better and young people, and in providing them with aligned with the new developments in ASEAN.
    [Show full text]
  • India and the East Asia Summit
    Indian Foreign Affairs Journal Vol. 9, No. 4, October–December 2014, 384-396 India and the East Asia Summit Arenla* The Asian region has witnessed rapid and significant structural changes during the last few decades, experiencing the fastest growth in the world and has continued to lead global growth despite the two major debacles of the financial and economic crises in the 1990s and 2000s. However, the pattern of change has been uneven. On the one side, we see the modern and rising economies, which are contributing largely to Asia’s economic development; on the other side, many low-income countries in the region have yet to undergo this process of structural transformation. The prominence of the Asia-Pacific region in the global economy can be gauged from the fact that the region accounts for over half of the world’s population with nearly 40 per cent of the GDP in Purchasing Power Parity, and about one third of world exports.1 The continuing dynamism of the region is highlighted in the World Bank’s East Asia Pacific Economic Update 2014, which points out that despite a challenging external environment, East Asia remains the fastest growing region in the world with its developing economies recording an enviable 7.2 per cent growth in 2013.2 The International Monetary Fund’s publication Regional Economic Outlook, 2014,3 reported that the growth in Asia is projected to remain steady at 5.4 per cent in 2014 and 5.5 per cent in 2015. More importantly, the Direction of Trade Statistics shows that the region now accounts for about one third of global merchandise exports in 2013, up from about one quarter in 20114 signifying that the region has emerged as the prime mover in the shift in global trade pattern in recent years.
    [Show full text]
  • The Second East Asia Summit Environment Ministers Meeting
    Clean Asia Initiative NEWSLETTER vol. 3 January 2011 Special Features 02 The Second East Asia Summit Environment Ministers Meeting [EAS EMM]/ The Ninth ASEAN Plus Three Environment Ministers Meeting [ ASEAN+3 EMM] In Brunei Darussalam, East Asian countries held discussions on environmental cooperation in the region 04 Launch of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative! The launching ceremony of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI) was held as a side event during the CBD-COP10 with over 500 participants Contents 06 Follow up of the Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting [TEMM]! “Tripartite Roundtable Meeting on Environmental Industry”. “Tripartite Policy Dialogue on Chemicals Management among Japan, China and Korea”, “Joint Environmental Training Project” and “Joint Research on Dust and Sandstorms (DSS)” from TEMM Action Plan 08 Launch of the Asian Co-benefits Partnership Support the mainstreaming of a co-benefits approach and promote co-benefits projects in Asia 09 The Second Meeting of the Regional 3R Forum in Asia Being held under the theme of “3Rs for a Green Economy and Sound Material-Cycle Society” 10 2nd Annual Meeting of the International Research Network for Low Carbon Societies [LCS-RNet ] Discussions were exchanged on promotion of a transition to low-carbon societies at the national, municipal and individual level 11 Eighth Workshop on Environmental Monitoring of Persistent Organic Pollutants [POPs] in East Asian Countries Discussion on the future international monitoring plan including
    [Show full text]
  • Pacnet Number 5 January 16, 2008
    Pacific Forum CSIS Honolulu, Hawaii PacNet Number 5 January 16, 2008 The January 2008 Issue of Comparative Connections is now unwillingness to make a “complete and correct” declaration of available online at http://www.csis.org/pacfor/ccejournal.html its nuclear program left a diplomatic dilemma. Meanwhile, the election of South Korea’s conservative party candidate, Regional Overview: Tentative Multilateralism, Democracy Lee Myung-bak, signified that Seoul and Washington will in Action by Ralph A. Cossa and Brad Glosserman likely have a more coordinated policy approach toward North The quarter began with high hopes, but it was all down Korea. Lee stressed that he would adopt a “pragmatic” hill after that. Beijing announced a “second phase” approach and support large-scale South Korean economic implementation plan at the Six-Party Talks, but as the new assistance to Pyongyang – but only if North Korea first year tolled a “complete and correct declaration” of all North abandons its nuclear program. President Roh Moo-hyun and Korean nuclear programs was nowhere to be found. The President-elect Lee pledged to work together to ratify the U.S.- ASEAN Charter was signed but hopes that Myanmar would Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) at the upcoming session somehow be penalized for its suppression of protests were of the National Assembly in February. dashed. The third East Asia Summit took place but left U.S.-Russia: Putin Picks a Successor by Joseph Ferguson observers uncertain about its place in the greater multilateral mix. The global warming meeting produced a not very specific Vladimir Putin named his preferred successor, longtime “Bali Roadmap.” Meanwhile, the democratic process was in aide Dmitri Medvedev, and appears to be stepping down – sort evidence, with elections in Australia, South Korea, and of.
    [Show full text]