ASEAN+3

It's a new phenomena comprising the 10 ASEAN nations plus Korea, China and Japan. Its formation was due to several reasons.

.ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS.

.COLD WAR IN ASIA.

It was a battle between the Independents (USA) and the Communists and Socialists (North Korea and Vietnam). There was little interaction between the Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. In order to stop the influence of communism, 5 countries formed ASEAN, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand. These 5 countries also initiated programmes with other countries such as China.

.POST COLD WAR ENGAGEMENT.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the post Cold War era began. This resulted in more involvement in East Asia as a whole. However, there was no discussion on ASEAN+3, as it was all on an ad hoc basis.

.ANCIENT TRIBUTE SYSTEM AND COLONIAL RULE.

.GEOHISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA AND EAST ASIA.

WHY ASEAN+3?

.GROWING TREND OF GLOBALISATION AND REGIONALISATION.

The liberal economic policies of the EU (European Union) and the North America FTA (Free Trade Agreement) involved Latin Americans, which in turn created response from Asian readers, ad caused Asian regionalism.

.ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS: REGIONAL RESPONSE.

During the 1997-1998 financial crisis, many in IMF (International Monetary Fund) helped. The stringent conditions at that time forced many countries to change their economic systems. The countries were reluctant and so, they decided to solve this locally. Hence, in 1998, the 1st ASEAN+3 Summit took pace. China initiated it, and it required great interstate cooperation and resulted in phenomenal trade growth.

.GROWING SALIENCE OF REGIONAL CHALLENGES.

WHAT DOES ASEAN+3 DO?

.ADDRESS SPECIFIC ISSUES (MOSTLY ECONOMIC).

Discuss financial, trade, non-traditional security issues. Which means that there are no territorial disputes. Deals with drugs, terrorism, piracy, human trafficking and diseases etcetera. Other issues discussed include the Chiang Mai initiative, which states that if any country has financial difficulty, the other countries can help and the money can be repayed at a later date.

.PUSH FOR COMMUNITY BUILDING VIA BILATERAL FTAS.

Many FTAs such as the ASEAN-China FTA, ASEAN-South Korae FTA, and the ASEAN-Japan FTA all assure more goods of better quality and at a higher price. It basically means that the region is pretty much fraught with conflict at the moment and peaceful living without suspicion of each other and easy access to each other's resources is the goal of ASEAN+3.

CHALLENGES

.ECONOMIC, CULTURAL, AND POLITICAL DIVERSITY.

Economic: Developing countries are very poor as they are chiefly agricultural.
Political: Vietnam, China, North Korea etc. are all classified communist. Thailand has a civilian government, and Myanmar is run by the military junta. On the other hand, Japan has had democracy since WWII, Taiwan has recently achieved independence, and South Korea is a full-fledged democracy, making it impossible to intervene due to human rights, etc.

.DISTRUST WITHIN ASEAN+3.

Due to our history, it makes it impossible for complete trust. For example, the tension between China and Japan makes it practically impossible. The Japanese blame the Chinese for their war crimes during the Nanjing Massacre. The Japanese farmers are also against this FTA as they are afraid that Southeast Asian products will flood the Japanese market and this would reduce their profit margin. Both countries also saw each other as the greatest competition for regional leadership and wanted to provide more than the other for ASEAN+3, hence they ended up both providing the same amount for the federal reserves. Japan, on the other hand, wanted ASEAN+1. In addition, during the post Cold War era, ASEAN saw China as a threat, as China was communist and the smaller countries were worried that China's rapid development would result in its dominance. This resulted in ASEAN-China tension.

.DOMESTIC POLITICS.

Simply put, it is difficult to get all 13 countries together.

.SENSITIVE SECURITY ISSUES.

Mostly involving territorial disputes over the East China Sea and the South China Sea, which Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei all lay claim to. Singapore and Malaysia both claimed Pedra Branca in 2008.

.GROWING AMBIGUITY IN GEOPOLITICAL BOUNDARIES.

What is East Asia? The geographical boundary is yet to be defined. Australia counts themselves as part of East Asia because they have been involved in East Asia for decades, and so does India because of its importance in East Asia in light of their rapid development, and the USA considers themselves part of the Asia-Pacific community.

.PRESENCE OF OTHER COMMITTEES.

Other commmittees or forums exist and different countries give these different priorities. For example, others include APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation), East Asia Summit, ASEAN Regional Forum (which handles security issues), Asia-Pacific Community, G2 (Chimerica), US-Japan-China trilateralism, Japan-China-South Korea trilateralism. As such, China sees ASEAN+3 as more important while Japan prioritises the EAS in terms of regional integration. In the G2, China and the US are the main leaders, while ASEAN continues to weaken and also, the leaders of China, Japan, and Korea meet more than they meet ASEAN.

CONCLUSION

.ASEAN+3 becoming 3+ASEAN?
.ASEAN GRADUALLY LOSING DRIVER'S SEAT POSITION IN TERMS OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION?
.ASEAN+3 IS AT A CROSSROADS?

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