Source: Radio Australia (Australia)
Source type: Radio
Published on: 21 Sep 2010
Australia, NZ, Russia prepare for ‘huge’ ASEM
14 October 2014
Australia, New Zealand and Russia will next month formally join the second largest inter-governmental gathering after the United Nations - the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM). And for the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, it will be her first international foray in the job. It will also be the eighth ASEM summit so far - but the grouping has been derided by some as a mere talking shop.
Presenter: Linda Mottram, Canberra correspondent
Speakers: Associate professor Philomena Murray, Melbourne University; Ong Keng Yong, Singapore's ambassador-at-large
MOTTRAM: The Asia Europe Meeting is big.
MURRAY: It is actually huge, Linda. In many ways it could be regarded as the G48.
MOTTRAM: Associate professor Philomena Murray from the University of Melbourne, whose expertise includes EU relations with Asia and EU relations with Australia.
MURRAY: It is the European Union countries, which is 27 countries, plus the European Commission, which is the bureaucracy of the European Union. On the Asian side, it consists of ASEAN, plus the Republic of Korea, plus China, plus Japan, plus India, Pakistan and Mongolia. Recently, also the ASEAN secretariat has joined it. And at the meeting that will take place in early October, Australia, New Zealand and Russia will be the new members, so we are looking at 48 countries, many of the world's greatest powers, minus, of course, the United States.
MOTTRAM: Now, it's always better to talk than to fight, I suppose, but that sounds terribly unwieldy. Does it get anything done?
MURRAY: This is not just the photo shoot. It is the fact that heads of government give time out of their terribly heavy schedules in order to spend a few days working on issues and talking through, as what one European Union document called it, a policy making laboratory, but also it's a socialisation issue, it's actually getting to know each other.
MOTTRAM: ASEM's first summit was in 1996 in Bangkok, totalling 29 members. Expansion was inevitable. But it hasn't been trouble free. Central and eastern European nations, new to the EU have faced hostility. India was snubbed by Thailand in 1996. Twice, Australia tried to get in and failed. Hostility from Malaysia under Dr Mahatir was a key problem. And Burma has been a running sore - an ASEAN member, but subject to EU sanctions and the point that has brought two different world views up against each other - the EU's standards of governance and human rights as against ASEAN's position of non interference in members' internal affairs. Europe had attempted to keep Burmese representation at ASEM at a low level, but over time adjusted that position - to loud protest from Burmese exiles and lobby groups. Singapore's ambassador-at-large is Ong Keng Yong, who's also a former secretary general of ASEAN, admits it's still an issue.
ONG KENG YONG: We have many problems with the European parliamentarians who believe that more could be done in Myanmar.
MOTTRAM: But he worries that isolation has meant Burma lacks the capacity and sophistication that might help change its circumstances.
ONG KENG YONG: We have in ASEAN a position that we must engage Myanmar. Number one, it is part of ASEAN membership. Number two, we must not isolate Myanmar to such an extent that it has nowhere else to go except towards the two immediate big neighbours, India and China.
MOTTRAM: And Philomena Murray says Europe had a particular lesson in the advantage brought by ASEAN's consensus building approach, at least where Burma's concerned.
MURRAY: This was evident with the Cyclone Nargis aid where international aid actually went through ASEAN and did not go through either the European Union or the United States, for example.
MOTTRAM: Still European countries remain very concerned about Burma and the sanctions framework dominates its response. Ong Keng Yong says, though, that that should not be a deterrent to Asia-Europe interaction, where he sees a key role for new member Australia, with its long history with both Asia and Europe.
ONG KENG YONG: Through the Asia Europe Meeting, Australia can bring the ASEAN countries, more closely with the European, and maybe even work with the Europeans to do certain interesting activities in Southeast Asia.
MOTTRAM: Australia's Julia Gillard, like the leaders of New Zealand and Russia, won't face too many expectations at her first ASEM summit. But the summits do have breakout meetings to engage in what are called issues-based leadership. Should Ms Gillard choose, she could contribute issues like Australia's work with Asia on sea piracy, its approach on good governance, or possibly regional integration, with its echoes of former prime minister - now foreign minister - Kevin Rudd's lead.
-Radio Australia http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asiapac/stories/201009/s3018175.htm
