Challenges Facing the Evolution of Regionalism into an East Asian Community - Research Paper Example

CHALLENGES FACING THE EVOLUTION OF REGIONALISM INTO AN EAST ASIAN COMMUNITY Introduction This paper looks into the East Asian Community advance towards regionalism, and the various challenges it faces. The challenges are both internal and external, and affect the quest for integration and regionalism, in their own unique ways. The challenges facing the evolution of regionalism into East Asian Community are both internal and external. The analysis covers the broad aspect of regionalism in the East Asia tracing its origin and eventual development to its current status in the 21st Century. The essay concludes with recommendations on what need to be done to address the challenges facing the regionalism in East Asia. It also covers a summary of the future prospects of regionalism in East Asia region. East Asia March towards Regionalism In discussing the challenges facing regionalism in East Asia, it is imperative to recognize the recent rapid quest, and rush for regionalization in the region. The regions of East Asia are composed of big and powerful nations of the world such as China, Japan, and South Korea. Other smaller nations in the region include Vietnam, North Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore. The region is composed of nations in the Northeast Asia and Southern Asia. The region was not well developed during times of the cold war where the West was fighting the East. The cold war divided the region into the north and south. However, the region remained relatively peaceful, with no major wars fought, apart from the Sino-Indonesian war of 1979, and the Cambodian civil war of the late 80s and early 90s. The peaceful coexistence between states in the region has been one of the most significant conditions which have made it possible for the region’s economic, political, and social integration. Economic globalization has spread in East Asia. The region has experienced a rapid economic growth to reach the levels of other powerful economic regions such as North America and Western Europe (Cohen, 2009). This has catalyzed the need for economic interdependence between the states in the region. It is now a common phenomenon for interstate trade between in the region. Social integration has not been left out in the regionalization East Asia. Unlike in the past where tourism was a preserve of Japan, other nations in the region have started to visit the world, and more so, the nations within East Asia. The social integration has been enhanced further by what scholars describe as the East Asia way of life among the new middle classes. There has been sharing of many common and popular cultural practices such as songs, karaoke, movies, TV dramas, and video games. Furthermore, the global financial crisis which have affected East Asia too, have necessitated for the regionalism in East Asia (Bustelo, 2000). North Korea\s nuclear development has also served as a major impetus for expanded regional cooperation in East Asia (Byun, and Synder , p 1). Regional multilateral political frameworks have also developed alongside the regionalization in economic and social dimensions. These political frameworks include; Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the East Asian Summit, Asian Regional Forum (ARF), Asian—Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the ASEM+3 (Zhang, n.d.). Rapid Regionalization During and After the Cold War The 1970s saw new developments in the region, and gradually expanded up to the 1990s. This was a season in the history of East Asia which saw the emergence of China as a regional powerhouse. The Sino-American reproach and the introduction of the reform and opening policy helped to put China on the world’s map. The era cold war divided states in the region on ideological boundaries, marked by an alignment on either the Capitalist West, or the Communist East. Characteristics of the East Asian Political Process Many political frameworks in East Asia are developed and organized with ASEAN as the focal point of the integration(ASEAN+3, ASEAN PMC is a pointer to this fact). The ASEAN issue has posed a great challenge to the establishment of proper regionalism in East Asia. Many countries have had fears that in establishing the East Asia Summit, the centrality of ASEAN might end up being reduced. The East Asia Summit was a pivotal point in the regionalization of East Asia. Some nations such as Malaysia and China were hesitant in the inclusion of new members to the summit. This put them at loggerheads with proponents of incorporating new members into the region such as New Zealand, Australia and India. Proponents included Japan, Indonesia and Singapore. The issue of ASEAN posed a challenge in many ways. Instead of centering on controversial political and military issues facing the region, the main emphasis has been on functional areas like finance, commerce, energy, science and technology, culture among others. Failure to address the thorny issues has played a major role in watering the prospects of a comprehensive political integration in East Asia. The ASEAN issue has led East Asia to become a region without regionalism. This is because there has been slow discussion on the visions, norms and ideals necessary for adoption in the regional integration of East Asia. The facts of regionalization in East Asia preceded the visions and ideas of regionalism. For instance, the first ASEAN + 3 summits, which were held in 1997, had no vision statement. Visions of Regionalism One of the major challenges facing the evolution of regionalism into an East Asian Community is how to reconcile the tension that exists between the principle of noninterference and the need for universal human values. It follows the notion that a region can fully integrate without interfering with individual states’ domestic affairs. This is a rather precarious position for the formation of an East Asian Community since the evolutionary strategy may take ages. The hope that undemocratic nations will evolve on their own into democracies, is a farfetched idea, which might not see the light in the near future. Such countries as North Korea continue being a big hindrance towards the full evolution of regionalism into a full East Asian Community. Political Differences/Hostilities among the States in the Region The evolution of regionalism into a complete East Asian Community is faced by the challenge of political reconciliation among key countries, and other political entities in the region. The Asia- Pacific is an area of heavy concentration of major powers of the world such as United States, Russia, India, Japan and China. It is in this region that East Asia falls in, with a fragile security base. Countries are suspicious of one another. Currently, there is political tension between nations such Japan and the Northeast Asian neighbors, China and Taiwan, North and South Korea. The hottest conflict has involved the democratic South Korea and the ‘rogue’ communist North Korea. The latter has tested nuclear missiles in the region with an intention of hitting and intimidating the former. The major power China has not been in the forefront to condemn the nuclear program of the rogues state, a political move which further strains the relations and thwart regionalization in East Asia (Rozman, 2011). This tension hinders frank talks between political leaders over various bilateral as well as multilateral issues (Archarya, 2007). Such a situation is a barrier to constructive regional development in East Asia. Unless the persisting political divisions in the region are resolved, true regionalization will remain a mirage. Boundaries and External Relations There exist political divisions in the region such as the ones in the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait. Failure to resolve these disputes has hindered the participation of Taiwan and North Korea in the integration of the East Asian Community. The region is characterized by looming danger from within and without. North Korea provides the greatest challenge to the realization of realistic and sustainable regionalism in East Asia (Mikeyoung, 2011).The debate on whether to include India, Australia and New Zealand, pose another challenge to the integration of East Asia. On external relations, the way the region relates with North America and Europe is a key determinant in the direction the integrating takes. The region finds it a heinous task to manage its relationships with the U.S. This is due to the fact that the US has in the past expressed strong resistance to East Asian groupings. It has special strategic interests and roles in the region which it seeks to protect at the expense of a complete regionalism. Any attempt to a full regionalism is interpreted by the big brother as a threat to its interests in the East Asia region. There has been a general feeling among people who have a soft heart for United States that the rise of China and East Asia regionalism poses a threat to US dominance in the region and the world in general. The US has not come out in full support of East Asia regionalism. This might be based on the concern that the East Asian Regionalism is a threat and a replacement for the U.S. bilateral system. The concern is heightened by the notion of China dominating the new East Asian regionalism, for this might be the start of the ending of U.S. supremacy in the region. The need to pull away from the U.S. dominance in the region is hampered by a number of factors. The U.S still remains the most influential state in the globe and the East Asia region has not put in place a collective security arrangement. Trade Integration The process of regional integration encompasses the development integration in the area of trade and investments. It involves the integration and proliferation of bilateral Free Trade Agreements (F.T.A’s) involving the regional economies. The agreements transcend the elimination of tariff barriers and border measures restricting imports, to measure to facilitate trade and investments. Despite the enactment of their F.T.A’s, individual states have put in place their own measure to gain a competitive edge over the rest. This was precipitated by the Asian Financial crisis of 1997. China triggered the proliferation of the Free Trade Agreements when it announced its plans to negotiate an FTA with ASEAN in Brunei in November 2001. This in itself has got more of a political move and not an economic one. Japan, its main rival, followed suit one year later sparking off a stiff competition in the region. These FTA’s go against the spirit of the EAFTA proposed earlier by the Vision Group. They warp the model of trade in the region through their trade diversion effects. The effect of these agreements is that they are way much costly to the countries involved as well as the whole region. They undermine the effectiveness of the regional network of supplying of goods and services thus, undermining the competitiveness of the region in the global market. Thus, the bilateral agreements are stumbling blocks towards a regional free trade regime. The Huge Task of Realization of Concrete and Substantive Achievement in Many Functional Areas Functional cooperation is relatively easy where it is confined to holding meetings and conferences, also in cooperating on activities that the states can easily agree upon easily. Still when such activities involve less cost, then functional cooperation becomes easy. The East Asia functional cooperation has tended to be confined to these easy activities. The result has been an underachievement in the social, economic and political frontiers. This was the main reason behind the failure of the APEC in the 1990s. Currently, the East Asian countries are faced with the thorny issues of Free Trade Agreements and financial cooperation. There is a looming failure if the countries will only agree on “dirty FTA,”, and fail to agree on financial surveillance systems that are more effective. Such a scenario hinders the prospects of more substantive regional cooperation like the one in European Union. Regional Leadership Regionalism depends on the leadership ability of the states in the region to take the rightful role in steering the region ahead. The leadership of East Asia’s multilateral regionalism has been in doubt for quite some time. The quality of collective leadership among governments in the region is not good to integrate the region. The leadership is not based on mutual trust but mistrust. This to a large extent has been hampering the speedier evolution of regionalism into an East Asian Community. It is widely believed by many people that major powers in a given political region are natural leaders. China and Japan being the most powerful nations in the region are expected to take the leadership role in steering the region into a full East Asian Community. China by far is developing at a high speed with Japan being the largest and most advanced country in East Asia. However, it is unfortunate for the region as none of them can effectively take the leadership mantle of the region. Despite being a leading economic powerhouse in the region, and boosting of the largest population in the world, it is sad that China has not been able to provide the much needed leadership direction for the region. It is regarded as a late comer and hence lacks parallel history. It has many domestic issues to deal with, hence can not take the leadership role effectively. This is coupled by the suspicion and uncertainty both within and without the region. Hence, it cannot claim the title of the ‘anointed leader of Asia and East Asia in particular’ (Acharya, 2007). The imminent rivalry between China and Japan has also been a big challenge towards the creation of an East Asian Community (Rozman, 2011). Prospects of strained Sino-Japanese relations in the future spell doom for the integration process in East Asia. There is a general feeling among many observers that the growing influence of China not only in the region but in the world, is doing more harm than good to the process of regional integration. China major challenges have been maritime disputes. Hence, there is a feeling that it will try to secure control over seabed resources for energy security. Secondly, China is flexing its muscles to counter the growing hegemony of the United States in East Asia. Lastly, it might try to revive the sinocentric approach of rooting its national identity amidst the historical territorial disputes. The rivalry between Japan and China was well witnessed during the launch of the East Asia Summit. The result was two similar community building institutions in the region, the ASEAN +3 and the East Asia Summit. This is a reflection of the antagonistic feature of China and Japan in the regional issues. The consequent confusion between the two institutions and the regional powers challenge to the regionalism of East Asia as it will slow down the evolution of regionalism into an East Asian Community. These two institutions have overlapping but different membership. All these issues pose a challenge to the integration of East Asia (Rozman, 2011). Challenge of Financial Integration There can never be a full regional integration without major developments in the area of financial integrations. There has been considerable progress in the launch of regional financial arrangements in East Asia. However, there had not been a clear regional initiative in the area of exchange rate coordination. Instead, there has been continuance mounting of tension among states and other actors over the persistent and mounting trade imbalance across the pacific, between China and the US. The situation is compounded by lack of integration of exchange rate, which would provide the panacea to the trade imbalance in the region. Consequently, there has been a tendency for economies in the region to create financial systems that channel savings from the region to investors from East Asia. This happens outside the global system. The main challenge for these economies in East Asia has been how to come up with an East Asian regional financial system that is at least as efficient and even cheaper as the global financial system. This has indeed remained a tall order. Conclusion There is a dire need to resolve the long standing political divisions in order to achieve true regionalization in East Asia. The East Asia Community should, therefore, be friendly to both North America and Europe. For instance, China needs to focus on domestic issues, strengthen trust and relations with other political actors in the region in order to demonstrate its intention to develop peacefully, and to be part of the regional integration process in East Asia. This will help in creating a superior and successful regional order. There is the need to put measures in place to build and enhance long-term friendship ties between Japan and China, to promote friendship and understanding. The United States should take a leading role in enhancing good bilateral relations between East Asia nations as bad relations is not in the interest of the world’s superpower. It should endeavor to harmonize relations among states in the region, as opposed to stepping aside as the hostile political atmosphere takes control. There is also a great need to include North Korea in the East Asian Community debates and talks as it fuse and segregate the region (Mikeyoung, 2011). Despite the many challenges facing the evolution of regionalism into an East Asian Community, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The inclusiveness of the East Asian Community building process during recent ASEAN summits is a positive move. The summits have gone beyond the narrow geographical scope to include new players such as India, Australia and New Zealand. There are also efforts to bridge the gap between the two powers in the region, Japan and China to avert the possibility of a future conflict which would impact negatively on regionalism. China is also responding to calls to be a responsible power in the region. It has been in the forefront in facilitating the talks on the Korean nuclear crisis (Zhang, n.d).It is also imperative to note the gradual absence of the United States in the region’s affairs, which is a significant change of dynamics in the region. This might bring with it positive attributes, which might go a long way in fostering regionalism in East Asia. 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