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13th ASEAN Summit, Asia
Continues To Rise
Dr. Sawraj Singh
The 13th ASEAN summit of the Asian countries was just held in
Singapore. The major achievement of the summit was that the major
powers of Asia came together and Asia moved towards more economic
integration as well as towards overall cooperation and unity. It is
becoming increasingly clear that Asia is emerging as the leading
region of the world in the 21st century. No wonder, the theme of
the summit was “One ASEAN at the Heart of the Dynamic Asia”.
The ASEAN was established 40 years ago and has 10 member countries;
Brunei, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, and Myanmar. These countries signed a
charter and a few other very important documents during the summit.
These documents dealt with the economic cooperation among the ASEAN
countries, preserving the environment, and regarding the United
Nations convention on climate change and the Kyoto protocol. The
charter tries to make the ASEAN more effective in changing the world
situation. It also attempts to further increase regional cooperation
and will bring qualitative change in the approach of the ASEAN
countries.
The summit brought the biggest countries and the largest economies
of Asia together. India and China moved closer to each other as
well as to the ASEAN. Similarly, Japan and South Korea came closer
to the ASEAN. China and Japan also used the summit to break the
chill in their relations.
The Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh met the Chinese Prime
Minister Wen Jiabao. They announced that joint military exercises
would be held in the southwestern Chinese province, Yunan. These
will be held next month and 100 soldiers from each country will
participate. The two leaders said that they would take the
strategic relations to a new level and enhance the mutual
cooperation. They will increase cooperation in the fields of
energy, security, and preserving the environment. The border issue
will be resolved on the principle of mutual acceptance. They said
that the friendship will not only improve closeness and cooperation
between China and India but also will influence all of Asia and the
whole world. India and China are not adversaries but are friends
and partners.
The Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and the Chinese Prime
Minister Wen Jiabao also held a meeting. They decided to improve
and strengthen the mutual relations. This was the first meeting of
the Japanese Prime Minister with the Chinese Prime Minister after
Prime Minister Fukuda came to power in September. He said that he
would visit China soon. He also said that he would like to solve
the issue of exploring the East China Sea by more negotiations
between the two countries. China and Japan normalized their
relations 35 years ago. During this period, the trade between the
two countries has increased 200 times. In 1972, the trade between
countries was 1.1 billion dollars, now it is 207.36 billion dollars.
India seems to
have decided to start looking east for its future growth. The trade
between India and the ASEAN has reached 30 billion dollars a year.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that he wants the trade to
increase to 50 billion dollars a year.
2
December 2007
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