Diplomatic negotiation and conflict resolution in the Asian multilateral arena - Essay Example

Multilateralism in Asia The need to create a forum for the nations of the Asian continent can be attributed to the countries such as China, Japan andeven neighboring states such as Australia, which had realized more than 20 years ago of the need of a collective approach for the advancement of shared interests. Further, the era of globalization had started to gain prominence with the opening up of former closed economies such as China and India (David Shambaugh, 2008). The opening up of these new liberal markets further spearheaded the need to understand and evolve a concerted trade regime.

One of the first such associations to come into existence was the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation), which still symbolizes the earliest notions of multilateralism in the region. Earlier, nations in Southeast Asia had formed the ASEAN (Association of South east Asian nations), which was however limited in terms of influence, thereby falling short of addressing economic and political issues from a broader Asian perspective (Kent Calder, 2008).During the recent years, political events in the former Soviet Union resulted in dramatic changes and the formation of new republics that made up the larger part of Central Asia.

All these countries along with Russia and China as the other Asian partners make up the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The amount of diplomacy that has gone into creating associations such as the APEC and SCO has been unprecedented and have thus helped bring cast and diverse parts of Asia into a common fold. Such associations have little to do with any kind of pedigree. Further, there are no weak instincts whatsoever that have resulted in any surrender of sovereignty on the part of member states in achieving the much need foothold in multilateralism (Stewart Patrick, 2002).

Further, there have been several areas of friction among members states in such associations such as in the case of China and Taiwan. However, most of these gatherings have had to do a lot with economic ambitions and as such have endured the test of time. Taiwan and China, which are viewed as foes, continue to remain members of APEC on a common platform, which has been one of the ways of preventing both from indulging in diplomatic standoffs with each other. Although the final mandate of the APEC, ASEAN and SCO is largely limited to fighting terrorism and liberalization of trade, many have mutually created opportunities for bilateral negotiations at a lower level.

This is also one of the reasons due to which countries try to resolve differences on the sidelines of the summits of these organizations as it allows them to communicate on a regular basis and find out ways to resolve political issues (Joseph Camilleri, 2003).It must also be acknowledged that over a period of time, any form of hesitancy among nations towards multilateralism has gradually vanished as one can get to witness a rich array of efforts within these international forums at achieving specific objects such as through the ASEAN Regional forum, the East Asia Summit etc.

which seek to address specific and localized issues. These initiatives have gained widespread recognition as effective ways to reduce tension and increasing confidence and trust among nations.References1. David Shambaugh (2008), International relations of Asia. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.2. Kent Calder (2008), East Asian multilateralism: prospects for regional stability. London: JHU Press.3. Stewart Patrick (2002), Multilateralism and US foreign policy. Boston: Lynne Rienner.4. Joseph Camilleri (2003), nRegionalism in the new Asia-Pacific order.

London: Edward Elgar.