New institutions essential for preventing rifts between growing Asian powers

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New institutions essential for preventing rifts between growing Asian powers

By Vignesh Ram (Global Times) 08:49, August 28, 2013

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Asia today remains a shallow image of its former self. The downward spiral of India and China due to the advent of colonialism and the deadly turn of Japan toward the wrong side of history made Asia an easy victim of divisive politics.

In their quest for increased cooperation, Asian leaders, wanting to rebuild a supposedly glorious past, devised various initiatives such as the Bandung Conference of 1955. But subsequent geopolitical changes, such as the Sino-Indian border war, led to the concept being put onto the back burner.

Today Asia seems to be bouncing back as an emerging powerhouse of trade and commerce largely driven by the rise of China and India. Japan's economic revival has also helped and ASEAN has played a central role in the Asian geopolitical landscape.

Yet the increasing pressures on Asian economies and the increasing burden on their currencies are a sign of the fragility that this region faces under outside pressures.

The prospect of increasing cooperation in Asia in the face of growing tensions among various players may sound problematic, but is not impossible. Efforts at increasing cooperation in the region are already taking place.

The naval cooperation among China, India and Japan in the Indian Ocean region off the horn of Africa is an important step in the right direction. And the initiation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will encourage active and constructive engagement in the region.

Asian countries need to devise an organization through which active cooperation can be built. The Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) created in 2002 can be a strong arena where such cooperation can be built. It has been responsible for discussing various issues related to working toward the integration and streamlining the issues of Asian countries.

The forum has been crucial in bringing together Asian nations and helped cooperation in crucial areas such as energy. As both mass-producing and consuming economies lie within the ambit of the forum, it was possible to enhance cooperation.

The first ACD Energy Forum was initiated in 2005 in Bali, Indonesia. Though it essentially remains a forum and not an organization, the ACD can be formalized into a meaningful group.

Though reaching this stage would require more commitment and confidence building among countries in the region. Their relations with extra regional powers and alignments with super powers cannot be ignored.

The East Asia Summit, first conceived as the East Asian Economic Caucus in the 1980s, did not take off due to the disagreement between countries such as Japan and Malaysia over the nature and scope of the organization, particularly the inclusion of non-Asian states.

This problem could potentially be solved if it adopts the "ASEAN plus" format, where the other countries outside the region could function as dialogue partners.

Critics may argue that major powers in Asia itself may not cooperate, but if an organization can provide more regional influence and large share of trade in emerging markets and resources, major Asian powers would remain automatically interested in the newly created mechanism.

Asia needs a strong cooperation mechanism if it is to enhance its position in the world as a region of high growth. An "Asian Century" can only be realized if there is strong cooperation between major Asian powers, most importantly India and China.

The countries of Asia need to look within the region and contribute to its stability and prosperity. The ACD offers a prime opportunity to weave together a fragmented but critical region of the world.