The first preparatory meeting to establish a free trade area between China and ASEAN was held in Kunming on April 1. The idea of such a free trade area was first proposed by Chinese Pre-mier Zhu Rongji (
Most observers regard the free trade area as an economic imperative, while China's primary concerns are generally thought to be geopolitical. Beijing's first concern is countering what it sees as a US policy to militarily contain China through troop deployments. After all, Washington has declared China a strategic competitor and Beijing's cooperation in the war on terror has not changed that.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the US, two distinct goals have dominated US strategic deployments in Asia. One is the avoidance of a temporary power vacuum in Afghanistan while US troops are deployed there. The other is the prevention of future threats from the region. The US tacitly supported Japan's anti-terrorism bill, which allows Japan's navy to deploy warships to the Indian Ocean. The US has also reached military agreements with a number of countries, including Russia, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, Kirgizstan and Tajikistan, which include the right to deploy troops. Conscious of this process of encirclement, China has sought to boost its relationship with Russia and is eager to cooperate with ASEAN as well.
A second concern of Beijing is to develop a mechanism for regional dispute settlement.
China believes that establishing a free trade area with ASEAN may help to dispel fears among ASEAN members of a "China threat." With closer economic relations, the two sides would be able to promote political stability and peace in Southeast Asia. They may even be able to settle their disputes over a possible South China Sea nuclear weapons-free zone and ownership of the Spratly Islands.
A third Chinese concern is to pursue regional dominance.
Zhu's initial proposal for a China-ASEAN free trade area is all part of Beijing's attempt to play a dominant role in Asia's economy. Past initiatives, such as an East Asia Summit and East Asia free trade area, all included Japan. But China now intends to exclude Tokyo, because any initiative for economic cooperation with Japan will, in China's view, reduce its own prospects for dominance. China has confidence in its ability to challenge Japan's economic might in the future, but now isn't the time. Cooperation with ASEAN, however, may increase China's economic and political influence in Southeast Asia. As a consultative partner at ASEAN meetings, China's role is limited to expressing opinions. In the new regime that China envisages, it would help make the rules.
China's fourth concern is stabilizing the security of its borders.
In the proposed free trade area program with ASEAN, China attaches great importance to developing the Mei-Nan He basin. Because the upper Mei-Nan He basin is just China's Lancang River, if the whole river can be co-developed, it would enhance cooperation in transportation and tourism, and thus contribute to China's plan to develop the western part of the country. It may also foster the development of relations with Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thai-land. Furthering the economic interests of these neighboring states would help China to strengthen its border security. And this may be the main reason why China may offer Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia preferential treatment.
The US has had little interest in Asian-sponsored initiatives such as the East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC) or the Asian Monetary Fund (AMF). It seeks to control the economic affairs of Asia through APEC, which is under its control. If China and ASEAN establish a free trade area, they would then be able to challenge US predominance in Asia. Thus, by cooperating with ASEAN in a free trade area, China may find that its huge economy enhances both its political and economic influence to such an extent that it can counter US power in the region.
China may indeed gain political and security benefits from a free trade area, but the immediate significance of such a zone is purely symbolic. The 10-year timetable for the scheme indicates that there are many difficulties to be overcome, including political instability and economic competitiveness. Making the free trade area a reality will be easier said than done.
Chang Hui-ling is an assistant research fellow to National Security Council Senior Advisor Lin Chong-Pin (
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
The National Development Council (NDC) on Wednesday last week launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Monday. The new visa is for foreign nationals from Taiwan’s list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts, but it is not clear how it differs from other visitor visas for nationals of those countries, CNA wrote. The NDC last year said that it hoped to attract 100,000 “digital nomads,” according to the report. Interest in working remotely from abroad has significantly increased in recent years following improvements in
RSS