Australia.to | Obama to Meet Asian Leaders as China's Shadow Lengthens

WASHINGTON, Nov 11 (IPS) - U.S. President Barack Obama's attendance at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum leaders' meeting in Singapore next week will chart a new direction for U.S. participation in Asian multilateral diplomacy and call attention to the new administration's policy of engagement with the reclusive military-led government in Burma.

Next week's summit between Obama and Southeast Asian leaders, which will occur on the sidelines of the APEC summit, signifies a major shift in U.S. diplomacy towards Southeast Asia from the approach of the George W. Bush administration, which focused on counterterrorism and military cooperation but largely ignored regional diplomatic frameworks, while China expanded its economic ties to the region.

China's increasing economic engagement in Southeast Asia has become most evident in its extensive economic ties to the ruling military junta in Burma and the China-ASEAN free trade agreement (FTA) which will come into effect in January.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, includes Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Obama's summit with Southeast Asian leaders will be historic not only for the renewed U.S. interest in U.S.-ASEAN diplomatic ties, but also in that it will be one of the highest level meetings between a U.S. president and a top leader - Prime Minister Thein Sein - in Burma's military junta.

Sidney Morning Herald | ASEAN free-trade deal finally gets the go-ahead

October 26, 2009 -

AFTER almost five years of talks, Australia will enter into a free-trade agreement with ASEAN countries, covering about $112 billion goods and services.

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, yesterday announced the agreement would take effect from January 1. Negotiations for the trade deal, Australia's largest, began in March 2005.

''The entry into force of this massive new free-trade agreement for Australia as of 2010 is a big step forward for Australia, it is good for the Australian economy, it is good for jobs, and that is why this Government is pleased to have been part of this negotiation, pleased to have brought this negotiation to a successful conclusion,'' Mr Rudd said.

The agreement spans 12 countries and over 600 million people and covers about 20 per cent of Australia's two-way trade. FULL STORY

Reuters | Asian leaders seek to reduce Western trade ties

HUA HIN, Thailand, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific leaders called on Sunday for regional-wide free trade and other measures to reduce dependence on the United States and big Western markets as Asia leads the way out of the global economic downturn.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama urged Asian leaders to keep up fiscal and monetary stimulus measures even as their economies show mounting signs of recovery, saying there was "no room for complacency" and that the job market was still "dire".

Japan's idea for an East Asian Community would encompass Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, along with the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Leaders from all those states joined Sunday's talks.....FULL STORY

Economic Times India | India signs Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN members

China Daily | Chinese premier proposed that steps be taken to enhance cooperation between China and ASEAN countries in six-point proposal

First, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area should be brought into play through publicising laws and regulations on the free-trade area and the professional ...

Xinhua | Headlines 15th South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit Meeting headlines - October 23, 2009 5:30pm CDT

	Chinese premier arrives in Thailand for ASEAN summits with partners
	Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Hua Hin on Friday evening to attend the summit meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with its partners.

Thai PM calls for larger East Asian connectivity

Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva Friday said that a larger East Asian connectivity should be fostered in a bid to connect ASEAN to the rest of the Asia Pacific region.

Thai PM wants regional foreign currency reserve pool to be launched within 2009

Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva Friday said he really hopes that the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) can be launched by the end of this year.

Chinese diplomat: Wen's East Asia visit to be "journey of cooperation, confidence, development"

China to further cooperation through upcoming ASEAN meetings: ambassador

China, ASEAN to boost regional financial cooperation

Chinese Vice Premier calls for closer co-op between China and ASEAN

Chinese premier to attend ASEAN-related meetings in Thailand

China, ASEAN to strengthen agricultural cooperation

China, ASEAN trade ties to enter new stage as FTA established: Vice Premier

China to advance financial co-op with ASEAN

Forbes - India | Inside Story of India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA)

India had to engage Asean urgently or let the trading block forever be under the influence of China. And the prime minister had little time to make his move

On August 10, an Indian expert on trade agreements received a call from the commerce ministry. India was going to sign the long-pending Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asia (Asean), a powerful bloc of 10 Asian countries, two months before the October date initially expected.

The next day, the official flew out to Thailand to assist Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and his team who were already holding hectic parleys with their Asean counterparts. Two days later, India signed its most comprehensive trade deal yet, committing to bring down import tariffs on 80 percent of the commodities it traded with Asean.

Asean’s members — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia — and the six countries that the grouping wants to integrate the regional trade with (China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia) are home to about half the world’s population, account for about $9.4 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) and form the fastest growing region in the world.

The signing of the deal was the culmination of six-year-long talks punctuated by rivals’ attempts to delay India’s entry into the trade bloc as well as internal pressures that kept the government’s hands bound. This time, India came down from some of its long-held positions to push through the deal. And, the run-up to the signing was actually kept quiet to avoid domestic pressures from building up. Even Cabinet ministers such as A.K. Antony had reservations. But there was one man in the Cabinet who wanted the deal desperately: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The closest window available was a ministerial meeting set for mid-August in Thailand, the current chair of Asean. India had to act fast, the outgoing commerce secretary G.K. Pillai had told the PM. FULL STORY

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IANS | India-Russia-China trilateral meet on Oct 27 - preceded by talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit

New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) India, Russia and China will hold their ninth trilateral meeting in Bangalore Oct 27 to discuss ways to expand cooperation in regional and international issues like the global financial crisis, terrorism and UN reforms.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will meet his counterparts, Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Yang Jiechi of China, in the southern city, also known as India’s technology capital.

‘At the forthcoming meeting in Bangalore, the three foreign ministers will discuss regional and international issues and will explore ways of strengthening trilateral cooperation,’ the external affairs ministry said here Friday.

Although the trilateral meeting is significant in itself, all eyes will be on the bilateral meeting between Krishna and Yang, the first between the two foreign ministers since the reports of Chinese incursions and strident assertions over Arunachal Pradesh by Beijing.

The meeting between the two foreign ministers will be preceded by talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit at the Thai resort city of Hua Hin, likely Saturday.

Sunday October 25, 2009 | East Asia Summit | 10 ASEAN nations plus Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, South Korea and India

The Australian | OUR most influential economic thinkers - Treasury secretary Ken Henry, Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens and academic Ross Garnaut - foresee an unprecedented platinum age of Australian prosperity on the back of China's rise.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives for the 15th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, in the seaside town of Hua Hin, some 190 km (118 miles) south of Bangkok, October 23, 2009. The ASEAN Summit is bringing together the group's leaders to attend the meeting including a summit between ASEAN and the three East Asian powers of China, Japan and South Korea as well as a summit of ASEAN leaders with their counterparts from Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND POLITICS)

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (L) walks on the tarmac of Hua Hin airport as he arrives for the 15th ASEAN summit and related summits, in Hua Hin, southern Thailand, October 23, 2009. The summit runs from October 23 to 25. REUTERS/Christophe Archambault/Pool (THAILAND POLITICS)

Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (C) arrives at Hua Hin airport for the 15th ASEAN summit and related summits, in Hua Hin, southern Thailand, October 23, 2009. The summit runs from October 23 to 25. REUTERS/Stringer/Pool (THAILAND POLITICS)

South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak arrives for the 15th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, in the seaside town of Hua Hin, some 190 km (118 miles) south of Bangkok, October 23, 2009. The ASEAN Summit is bringing together the group's leaders to attend the meeting including a summit between ASEAN and the three East Asian powers of China, Japan and South Korea as well as a summit of ASEAN leaders with their counterparts from Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND POLITICS)

New Zealand Herald |Top ministers head off on Asian trade blitz - ‎Oct 22, 2009‎ - The Prime Minister will be joined in Thailand by Foreign Minister Murray McCully. The pair will also visit Japan next week where the new Government of Prime ...

Times of India | China to use ASEAN meet to make Yuan an international currency

October 23, 2009 - BEIJING: China is set to use the ASEAN meet to sell the idea of making the Yuan an international currency. It is using the sense of uncertainty over the US dollar to sell a new dream of enlarged regional trade, financial support from Beijing and reduced dependence on the volatile dollar.

China has also offered to contribute nearly one-third of the $120 billion economic stimulus package being worked out by ASEAN with the stated purpose of helping member-nations reduce their dependence on the International Monetary Fund. Japan offered to cough up a similar amount so that its influence in the region is not diminished.

A senior Chinese official has said that the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement, which will come into being on January 1 of 2010, will result in wide scale use of the renminbi or Yuan as the regional currency.

"The upcoming CAFTA, which boasts the largest population among all the world's FTAs and allows zero-tariff on 90% of products traded between China and ASEAN, will quicken the process of RMB rationalization, " the official Xinhua news agency quoted Xu Ningning, executive secretary general of China-ASEAN Business Council, as saying.

China is trying to persuade ASEAN nations to enter into bilateral agreements for trade settlements in Yuan. At present, it has sealed such agreements with two ASEAN members, Laos and Vietnam.

China recently launched the first-ever international bond in RMB in the Hong Kong market with significant success. It is pushing some Asian nations like Indonesia and Pakistan to transact business in RMB by offering them easy loans.

Thailand’s commerce minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot has indicated Bangkok is seriously looking at the option of using the Yuan as a medium of exchange. The Yuan could help reduce risks faced by the ASEAN countries in using the U.S. dollar, Xinhua quoted him, as saying at the 6th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

China’s purpose in trying to make the Yuan an international currency is manifold. Wider use of the Chinese currency in trade settlements will give a boost to its exports. It will also enhance Beijing’s prestige in world markets and help it deflate criticism from the United States and other western countries that it was keeping the Yuan under strict official control.

At present, only 10 per cent of the China-ASEAN bilateral trades involve settlements in the Chinese currency. Most of it takes place in border trades with other countries. Beijing is closely watching other currency trends like the use of the Thai Baht, Vietnamese Dong and the US dollar that are in circulation in places like Cambodia and trying to push the case of the Yuan.

China launched a pilot programs last December by allowing selected areas to trade in Yuan with ASEAN nations. The areas are the province of Guangdong and the Yangtze River Delta (which includes Shanghai), Hong Kong and Macao. Exporters in Guangxi and Yunnan Province in southwestern China to settle trade in yuan with ASEAN.

This was followed by another program, to settle cross-border trade deal in yuan in five cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Dongguan.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan | Press Conference by the Deputy Press Secretary, 22 October 2009

http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/press/2009/10/1022.html

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BusinessMirror.com | Philippine Senate summons Favila on Asean tax-free accord

Written by Butch Fernandez / Reporter
Friday, 23 October 2009 04:59

THE Senate is set to summon Trade Secretary Peter Favila next week to explain what senators decried as a hush-hush implementation of an international agreement that would allow imported agriculture products into the country tax-free, to the detriment of local farmers.

Sen. Loren Legarda, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, pointed out that the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga), supposed to take effect on January 1, 2010, may not be legally enforced as senators have yet to give their concurrence to the accord, as provided in the Philippine Constitution.

She cited a constitutional provision which states, in part, that no treaty or international agreement shall be valid unless concurred in by two-thirds vote of the Senate. “If it [Atiga] is an international agreement, why was it not submitted to the Senate?” she asked. “The Senate was kept in the dark,” she added.

In an impromptu press conference, Legarda told reporters she received information that Favila signed the Atiga in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 26, 2009, but it was “intentionally kept from the public.”

According to her, the Atiga, reportedly part of the Asean Free Trade Agreement, was initially set to take effect on 2015 but the new tariff schedule was accelerated to 2010. It was touted to be an accord that would allow the free flow of goods among Asean countries, but Legarda voiced fears it would open the floodgates and allow cheap products into the country without paying duties and taxes.

Apart from the Philippines, among the other signatories to the accord are Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Vietnam. Legarda learned, however, that Indonesia has requested for a two-year grace period before implementing the accord. She suggested that the Philippines ask for a similar deferment.

She warned that the Atiga will, in effect, waive billions of pesos in revenues from duties and taxes at a time when the country is hard put looking for additional resources to deal with the calamity caused by recent typhoons. “We are forgoing revenues while we are begging for aid from foreign donors.”

Legarda is concerned that the tariff accord would also kill the livelihood of farmers and other local food producers because the government failed to provide safety nets for them in anticipation of the effectivity of the agreement.

“I am alarmed so I am appealing to the government to seek its deferment for humanitarian reasons,” she said. “Why are we in a hurry when this will adversely affect our people?”

In a separate letter to President Arroyo, the Federation of Philippine Industries Inc. (FPII), also voiced misgivings about the impact on businesses once the Atiga is enforced. FPII warned that some businesses may be so badly hurt as to close down, contributing to unemployment.

United Press International, Asia | Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN's) growing maritime capability

The ASEAN region is rich in oil and natural gas, and globalization benefitted it further. The growing demand for energy, raw resources, imports and exports ...