FOCUS: Scrapped summits a setback for Asia on economic crisis+

SINGAPORE, April 14 Kyodo - The abrupt cancellation of Asian summits in Thailand last weekend after the meeting venue was swamped by antigovernment protesters has dented ASEAN's image and is being seen as a setback for the region's attempt to tackle the global
financial crisis.

The annual meeting of leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations and those from dialogue partners Japan, China and South Korea for the
ASEAN-plus-three meeting, and the East Asian Summit, which includes leaders
from Australia, New Zealand and India, was set for the Thai resort Pattaya.
But the meetings were canceled when droves of antigovernment protesters swarmed
the venue and forced the evacuation of the leaders from Pattaya.
The summits are now off until at least August and it is unclear if they will
even be in Thailand, which holds the rotational chair of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations until the end of this year.
The summit was supposed to have been in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last December,
but that was canceled before it began due to political turmoil fomented by
supporters of the current Thai government.
The ASEAN leaders managed a summit among themselves at the Thai resort Hua Hin
in late February, but had to reschedule meetings with their dialogue partners
until last weekend.
''What happened was regrettable because it delayed the opportunity for Asian
countries to devise collective measures to help the world get out of the
economic crisis,'' said former ASEAN Secretary General Rodolfo Severino.
ASEAN could have used the weekend meetings to discuss ways to work out measures
that could drive their markets, strengthen their financial system, stimulate
demand in the region, and propose ways to reform the international financial
system, Severino, head of the ASEAN Studies Center at Singapore's Institute of
Southeast Asian Studies, said.
He added he hopes ''some ways could be found for the ASEAN countries to convene
with the parties somewhere in order to work out collective means to deal with
the economic crisis.''
High on the agenda last weekend was to be a discussion of how the regional
economies could work together to overcome the global economic crisis that has
hit several regional economies hard.
Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a visiting research fellow at the ASEAN center, said,
''It definitely has got quite a bad impact on ASEAN. The region badly needs
immediate measures to cope with the financial crisis.''
ASEAN is in the process of working out details of an expanded $120 billion
Asian foreign exchange reserve fund known as the Chiang Mai Initiative among
the 10 ASEAN members, Japan, China and South Korea, but the loss of last
weekend's meeting means direct input from the 13 leaders had to be put off.
Plans to discuss cooperation in food and energy security and management of
disasters, the signing of a free trade deal on services with China and a
general FTA with India, all had to be scrapped as well.
Japan's hope to get a ''standalone statement'' by the leaders criticizing North
Korea's recent launch of a rocket also went by the board.
And a meeting of the foreign ministers of Japan, China and South Korea was
canceled Saturday morning after street protests prevented Japanese delegates
from reaching the hotel where the meeting was to be held.
And the leaders of the three countries could manage only a brief meeting later
in the day.
All the problems only harmed ASEAN's image.
''ASEAN has already been criticized for responding to the financial crisis too
slowly, for being incompetent,'' Pavin said. ''A lot of people don't have
confidence that (even) the ASEAN Charter can make a difference.
The ASEAN Charter is supposed to give a stronger, legal face to the regional
group, but Pavin said it is currently ''beyond the capacity of ASEAN'' to do
much to resolve domestic crises in member countries, let alone solve global
issues.
Even so, he remains somewhat optimistic.
''You cannot expect ASEAN to change overnight. ASEAN has to learn from
mistakes, learn to handle things, open up more and discuss even domestic issues
in member countries,'' he said.
Until now, ASEAN has avoided discussing internal affairs in members countries
as a policy of ''non-interference,'' but Pavin hopes it can grow beyond that
restraint.
''They don't want to criticize their own neighbor because they themselves have
the same problem,'' he said.
Severino said the cancellation of the summits may have dented ASEAN, but not
too badly.
''It's not as if this region were in flames. I don't think there will be mass
casualties the way it's going,'' he added as a nod to the antigovernment unrest
in Thailand.
''Things have been obstructed, but not fatally,'' Severino said.
Severino had his own problem as ASEAN secretary general between 1998 and 2002.
''In 1998, Indonesia underwent big political transition. It affected ASEAN,
but that doesn't mean was an ASEAN problem,'' he said, referring to protests
in Jakarta that led to the ouster of Indonesian strongman Suharto.
He also recalled that pessimists saw the 1997 and 1998 Asian financial crisis
as the end of the ASEAN Free Trade Area.
''People said AFTA was gone, but AFTA in fact was accelerated. So commentators
are very quick to pronounce the death of ASEAN, but I don't believe it, they
have been wrong many times.''
ASEAN is very resilient ''because they realize their future stands on sticking
together both politically and economically,'' Severino added.
''In the Philippines, for example, in 1986 there were big problems, (but)
nobody said ASEAN was in disarray,'' Severino said of the 1986 People Power
revolution that toppled Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The 10 ASEAN members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
==Kyodo