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Asia-Pacific Should Care More About Regional Interests
Former Australian Prime Minister John Malcolm Fraser said Wednesday that the Asia-Pacific region needs to give greater attention to its regional interests and concerns in the economic globalization.
Fraser made the remarks at the 21st Century Forum -- Conference 2000, which opened here this morning. Its theme is "economic globalization -- Asia and China."
Globalization poses two challenges, that is how to preserve some form of equity and reasonable competition in a globalized market place and how to establish stability within the financial markets, according to Fraser.
"There is an urgent need to establish an international body to establish rules for fair trading in a globalized environment," the former Australian leader said.
Fraser noted that in some ways, the Asia-Pacific region is less structured and less organized than other parts of the world. For example, in North and South America there is NAFTA and the Organization of American States. Europe has its European Union, which grows larger.
In the Asia-Pacific region, APEC has been established to promote and advanced freer trade. Its original intention was that it would move faster than the World Trade Organization.
However, with the involvement of the United States and countries on the Pacific Rim, APEC has been mitigated against as a pace-setter in the search for freer trade.
"The membership is so large and diverse that it is difficult to advance the specific interests of East and South-East Asia adequately or effectively," Fraser said.
"Our own region needs to give greater attention to regional interests and regional concerns," Fraser said, adding that this could be best promoted by a political conference of leaders of all East and South-East Asian countries.
The three-day conference is sponsored by the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body.
Over 500 participants, including statesmen and celebrities from around 20 countries, attended the conference's opening ceremony, which was presided over by CPPCC National Committee Chairman Li Ruihuan.
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