---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Australian Financial Review Saturday, July 24, 1999 Asian tigers urged to bare teeth on tariffs By Tim Dodd, Singapore The Singaporean Prime Minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong, urged the 10 members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations on Friday to do some honest reappraisal to deal with the weaknesses exposed by the Asian economic crisis. Opening the 32nd ASEAN ministerial meeting in Singapore, he said the economic crisis had "seriously dented" the organisation's reputation. "It has exposed the structural flaws behind ASEAN countries' past miraculous growth," he said. "New tensions between ASEAN countries have also emerged under the stresses of the crisis. ASEAN countries were seen to lack a clear vision and a common strategy in overcoming a common enemy in the economic crisis." But the indications are that the meeting, attended by the foreign ministers of member nations, does not have sufficient will, or unity, to develop new solutions to the economic problems facing South-East Asia. The big issue facing members Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei is how to deal with the agreement made last December to create a tariff-free trade zone, the Asian Free Trade Area, by 2002 one year ahead of the original schedule. The less developed economies of the four new members Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar were to receive more time to phase out tariffs. Now Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines are pushing hard for more time for their industries to adjust to the tariff phaseout, which throws the timing in doubt for creating the ASEAN vision of a 500 million strong consumer market, large enough to be a powerful, globally competitive economic unit. Already, the Philippines has erected temporary trade barriers to protect some sectors of its economy. But Mr Goh warned the meeting on Friday against building tariff walls. "A retreat from openness is at best a temporary solution. The only real long-term solution is to strengthen our economies to cope with global competition," he said. In his speech at the meeting's opening session, the Thai Foreign Minister, Dr Surin Pitsuwan, also called on ASEAN to be bold in facing change. "Globalisation and geo-economic realities necessitate a thorough review of our position. Are we tigers ascendant, an integral part of a new Pacific century, or are we last year's wounded cubs, transposed and forgotten?" he asked. However, Malaysian Foreign Minister Mr Syed Hamid Albar, cautioned against hasty moves. "We should not accept those [changes] which are alien to our national psyche and hurtful to our national objectives," he said. During the meeting, which was to end on Saturday, ASEAN will reaffirm its "One China" policy in response to the dangerous tension which is developing between China and Taiwan. In the coming week, 10 other nations, including the US, China and Australia, will join the meeting in the annual ASEAN regional forum and then a series of bilateral discussions. The East Timor ballot on independence will be high on the agenda, as will the simmering territorial dispute over the Spratlys Islands in the South China Sea. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 23 Jul 1999 jam 20:12:03 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
