By Eric Teo Chu Cheow
While it may have gone through a bad economic patch in the past
two to three years, Europe seems to be recovering well lately
particularly Germany and France, Europe's two largest
economies.
The 25-member EU was Singapore's largest trading partner in
2005, bypassing the United States and Japan, and this may hold true
again in 2006. Similarly, the EU counts as one of developing Asia's
top three trading partners, alongside the United States and
Japan.
The EU still remains a hub of technological innovation and
expertise in various fields. Culturally, Europe is probably at its
height of vibrancy: Many global issues are actively debated and
discussed in European intellectual circles today, ranging from the
effects of globalization to religious issues. This clear vibrancy
and intellectual fervor will undoubtedly rise further as social
issues are debated more forthrightly in this "marketplace of
ideas."
It is in this context of Europe's slow "re-emergence" and Asia's
spectacular economic "rise" that the Sixth Asia-Europe Meeting, or
ASEM, will take place on September 10-11 in Helsinki, Finland. The
last meeting was in Hanoi, Viet Nam, as meeting venues are rotated
every 18 months between Asia and Europe.
Today, ASEM groups the 25 EU countries, the European Commission
and 13 Asian countries, comprising the 10 ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) countries plus China, Japan and South
Korea.
ASEM was proposed in 1994, when Singapore's then prime minister
Goh Chok-tong first launched the idea in Paris, feeling that
Asian-European relations were weak. Relations were developing well
at that time between the United States and Asia across the Pacific
just as sound trans-Atlantic relations reigned between Washington
and the EU.
Goh first voiced this idea when he met officially with then
French premier Edouard Balladur in Paris, and later expounded on it
intellectually when he was hosted to a lunch talk by the
prestigious Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, or
IFRI. The stage was then set for a more profound consultation with
other Asian and European leaders, who felt the move timely and
necessary.
Meanwhile, then senior minister Lee Kuan-yew also remarked that
it was timely to re-engage the Europeans with Asia, as they
appeared more and more preoccupied (if rightly so at the time) with
their own internal consolidation and expansion after the fall of
the Berlin Wall in 1989.
It was therefore timely to "bridge" the missing third side of
the US-EU-Asia triangle through a regular series of meetings
amongst European and Asian leaders, along the lines of APEC for the
Asia-Pacific. Actively building bridges between Asia and Europe
would augur well for the future and for greater stability in the
international order.
The ASEM was formally launched with a summit held in Bangkok,
Thailand on 1 March 1996, between the 15 EU nations of the time,
the European Commission and only 10 countries from Asia seven ASEAN
countries, China, Japan and South Korea.
The Helsinki Summit would be the sixth since then; but in
celebrating 10 years of ASEM, Asian and European leaders also need
to do a serious evaluation of the whole ASEM process.
Economic co-operation has been going on well not necessarily
under the aegis of ASEM, as business contacts have developed
between Asia and Europe over the past years. Investments have
flourished, just as Asian investors currently take stakes in
European economies; this should not cause alarm or provoke
unnecessary European resistance. This is where the "mutual
understanding" role that ASEM undoubtedly plays must be well borne
out.
In a world wrecked by misunderstandings and religious
intolerance, ASEM has a crucial bridging role, especially in
dividing Euro-Asian issues ranging from globalization, the
environment and immigration to democracy and human rights. A
constant dialogue between Asian and European leaders, intellectuals
and public opinion-makers could truly enhance mutual understanding
and co-operation between Europeans and Asians.
Cultural co-operation is one significant aspect of co-operation
between the two peoples, as both Asians and Europeans have rich
cultural traditions and heritages. The Singapore-based Asia-Europe
Foundation, or ASEF, is a vital organization that contributes
actively to ASEM co-operation, especially in developing
intellectual, cultural and person-to-person exchanges, ranging from
journalists to leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
from both continents.
Added to this has been the important Interfaith Dialogue series,
which attempts to bridge the gap in religious understanding that
has opened up since last year with the mishaps of the "Danish
cartoons" controversy. Meetings, dialogues and co-operation have
also developed well across the board, with European and Asian
ministers meeting more regularly, ranging from the culture and
environment portfolios to immigration and labor dossiers. Thus,
through the ASEM process, functional co-operation has become the
norm in Asia-European relations.
It is thus hoped that, with increasing mutual understanding and
a greater co-operative spirit to work together, Asia and Europe
could truly consolidate understanding and ties between the two
peoples, leading to mutually beneficial long-term relations. This
is truly the spirit of ASEM that must prevail in Helsinki, as
Asians and Europeans celebrate the 10th anniversary of ASEM and
make an independent assessment of this decade-long process that has
clearly brought Asians and Europeans much closer today in spirit
and thoughts.
The author is a council member of the Singapore Institute
for International Affairs.
(China Daily September 8, 2006)
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