Asia’s new global crisis      

The renewed global economic slowdown is putting pressure on Asian countries to review their export-based growth model and their vulnerabilities to the inflows and outflows of capital. (The Malaysia Star)

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Asian leadership and the global economic crisis      

In East Asia, as elsewhere in the world, the risks that we continue to face in recovery from the global financial crisis, economically and politically, are a consequence not only of failure in national governance but also in the architecture of international governance, including regional architecture. (East Asia Forum)

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The East Asia Summit and regional financial cooperation     

One of the priority area for regional cooperation at the East Asian Summit (EAS) has been finance. At the last EAS Leaders’ summit in Hanoi last year this area was given special attention along with education, energy, disaster management and avian flu prevention.       (East Asia Forum)

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Consolidating East Asia Cooperation: A New Role for Northeast Asia      

The balance of power in East Asia is shifting, presenting new risks to regional stability. In order to mitigate these risks and maintain and strengthen regional peace, stability, and prosperity, it is critical that regional cooperation be consolidated.                                        (Japan Center for International Exchange)

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Bringing the IMF closer to Asia      

Christine Lagarde's maiden speech as the new chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was as safe as it was predictable. Speaking to an audience of 300 at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday (July 27), Lagarde addressed the global challenges of sovereign debt in the United States and Europe, slowing growth in emerging markets, and social instability in the Arab world. She emphasised the core principles of the IMF she believes will keep it relevant in an increasingly interconnected world. But in that speech there was disappointingly little mention of Asia. In fact, the word China came up only once, and Asia did not get a look in at all. (ANN/The Straits Times)

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Shanghai Cooperation Organization has winds in its sails  

The tenth annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Astana, Kazakhstan, on June 15 was a milestone in the history of the institution. The organization comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has gained a reputation as a possible strategic rival to American and Western interests throughout Central Asia. Current signs suggest that SCO membership may increase and the organization could become a more prominent regional geopolitical actor. (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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China binds itself in East Asia   
  
China has very successfully created new security ties over the last year. The only problem is that most of these new relationships have been created because of China, rather than with China. Beijing is on the outside looking in. In the wake of Chinese naval and diplomatic assertiveness in the South China Sea during 2010, a number of states in the region have begun developing closer diplomatic and security links to the United States and with other powers in the region.      (East Asia Forum)

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Key to ‘East Asian’ health   

On May 8, 2011, leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations issued a joint statement to reaffirm their commitment toward the development of a common position on global issues. The statement reflects an endeavor to reshape the traditional principles of the ASEAN way by enhancing the significance of binding strictures. (The Japan Times)

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2011 East Asia Summit: New members, challenges and opportunities  

Based on the Kuala Lumpur Declaration 2005, this year’s Summit will continue to be a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic issues to promote ‘common security, common prosperity, and common stability.’ The event will also mark the addition of two new members, the US and Russia to EAS.        (The East Asia Forum)

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China’s Grand Periphery military strategy and the survival fits   
  
‘Grand Periphery Military Strategy’ (da zhoubian guojia junshi zhanlue) is the new cliché in vogue in the lexicon of Chinese think tanks. It appeared first, in a story in a Hong Kong based Chinese vernacular daily Ta Kung Pao on September 24, 2009 that doubted the capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army to defend its ‘far flung borders’. (The EuroAsia Review)

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The China-South Korea-Japan Triangle: The Shape of Things to Come?   
   

The fourth summit between Chinese, South Korean (ROK), and Japanese leaders in Tokyo on May 21-22 reaffirmed the promise of the China-South Korea-Japan triangle as a sustainable model for Northeast Asian cooperation. (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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The New “Iron Silk Road”   
   

The 21st century will see the revival of the Silk Road that ages ago connected Asia to Europe. Or rather, the revival of many cross roads as a great deal of sub regional routes of importance has been included in the ambitious Trans-Asian Railway Network project (TAR). Within a few years an intercontinental highway will link Shanghai and Rotterdam in South Holland, and this will be a windfall for landlocked-Central Asian countries whose access to regional and world markets rests on an efficient road system. (Diplomatic Courier)

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Non-traditional security threats in Asia: Finding a regional way forward   
   
Asian diplomats are confronting new issues that challenge the very concept of what constitutes a security issue. Non-traditional security (NTS) issues — such as transnational crime, terrorism, disaster relief, information security, climate change, and public health epidemics — are now considered core national security issues. (East Asia Forum)

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Indonesia should cross the river by feeling for stones  

In mid-November of 2011, Indonesia will host the sixth East Asia Summit (EAS) in the newly built Nusa Dua Convention Center in Bali. Based on the Kuala Lumpur Declaration of 2005, this year’s summit will continue to be a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic issues to promote “common security, common prosperity and common stability”. The EAS is welcoming two new members — the US and Russia — into the East Asian community. (The Jakarta Post)

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Asia’s threesome turns four   
   

Like many regions of the world, Northeast Asia faces severe political challenges in creating a viable structure of peace. But, given China’s rising power, such a regional structure is becoming all the more necessary if today’s lack of trust is not to devolve into military antagonism. Relations among the region’s three major powers, China, South Korea and Japan, are burdened both by territorial disputes and by the bitter historical legacies of Japanese colonialism. Of course, economic interdependence has deepened over the past three decades, but nationalism remains a convenient tool for political mobilization -- and of manipulation for domestic and diplomatic purposes. (Sunday’s Zaman)

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Eyes on East Asian future  

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea (ROK) met in Tokyo on May 21-22 as scheduled, even though Japan is still recovering from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, demonstrating the three countries' consensus on regional responsibility. The leaders agreed to strengthen a future-oriented partnership aimed at constructing a nuclear power safety and disaster prevention system, and developing common food, energy and environmental security. (The China Daily)

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Japan’s disaster may accelerate realignment in the East   
  

The coastline of Japan is not the only shift that will have been caused by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. As significant as the material damage, which appears to be almost incalculable, and as worthy of attention as the economic damage, also titanic, is a potential shift in the international alliances and strategies in the Far East, particularly among China, Japan and the US and its allies. (American Thinker)

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Asian financial arrangement: Regionalism vs. multilateralism  

On May 4, 2011, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), an independent surveillance and regional monitoring office, was officially established during the 14th ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers’ Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, which was held during the 44th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank.  AMRO is crucial to the operation of the Chiang Mai Initiatives Multilateralization (CMIM). This is a positive development after the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. However, technical coordination with multilateral institutions, especially the IMF, is needed so that regionalism will not be in conflict with nor irrelevant to multilateralism. (The Jakarta Post)

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Asian solidarity   
   

It is a matter of course that prevention is better than cure. But an Asian financial safety net, designed to fight off future financial crises, cannot be relied to prevent them. Instead, it may be used to take action only when a financial crisis is confirmed to have dealt a blow to a country. (The Korea Herald)

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The least that East Asians can do to cooperate  

As China continues its unremitting rise, people throughout East Asia are wondering whether their states will ever be able to achieve the peaceful, stable relations that now characterize Europe. Given the regularity of serious diplomatic spats — over everything from tiny atolls in the South China Sea to the legacy of World War II — this may sound like an elusive dream. But, with nationalism and military budgets rising sharply, achieving consensual stability has become imperative for the region. (The Japan Times)

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