THE US ambassador to ASEAN says the plan to have the 10-nation regional
grouping economically integrated will not be complete by 2015, but says he is
not worried about it.
“It’s not going to happen by
2015,” David Cardin said, adding: “I’m not too fussed by the fact that it is
not going to happen by 2015.
“I don’t think you can have
economic integration without legal integration.”
Speaking to an AmCham audience on
Friday morning at Phnom Penh’s Hotel Intercontinental, US ambassador to ASEAN
David Cardin gave his opinion that the idea of superpower rivalry between the
US and China was false.
“I believe deeply that the
narrative of superpower rivalry in the region is false; it is not real, it is a
construct.
“There is competition in this
region as there will always be competition for business influence. There is no
desire to contain China and to be in a rivalry with China. It is the opposite.
The global economic community demands that we are all in this together. The
superpower rivalry is, in my view. not true.”
Regarding the diplomatic
consequences of Cambodia’s removal of the South China Sea conversation from the
agenda during earlier meetings in this year of Cambodia’s ASEAN chairmanship,
Cardin said the ASEAN nations had not been dealing with issues such as the
South China Sea until recently.
“This was not a happy event. The
ASEAN nations issued a six-principled statement. We have been very clear that
the ASEAN nations need to move forward with China to resolve this question,” he
said.
“ASEAN wasn’t grappling with
those heavy questions until of late.
“All credit to them for trying to
deal with those questions. I think it shows a maturing situation. It is
important to note that they are dealing with some difficult things. Some of the
ASEAN nations are involved in these issues not because they are claimants, but
because they are stakeholders in the security and prosperity in the region.”
Cardin said his agenda was to
foster and promote economic integration in ASEAN, and the ASEAN countries would
be the primary beneficiaries.
“It is clearly the case that the
ASEAN nations themselves will reap the principal prosperity that will result
from the integration. We are dogged in our desire to establish a rules-based
system, but it is not containment,” he said.
With regard to recent events in
Myanmar, Cardin said he was encouraged.
“I’m very encouraged with what’s
happening politically. They won’t move in a smooth line, but I do believe it is
going to move forward,” he said.
“It is not ultimately clear
what’s going to be happening with investor relations.” He said only six per
cent of Myanmar’s people had electricity.
Cardin said, however, the ASEAN
regional grouping was moving in the right direction and the necessary
conversations were taking place.
“There’s a rise in protectionism
in the region, and real concern about whether the ASEANs are going to put into
effect what they agreed to put into effect. If they are going to have the free
flow of labour, they’ll have to have protections to protect the abuse of labour.”
Cardin, who is based at the US
embassy in Jakarta and frequently travels around the region, said he was very
concerned that investments needed to be made in education and people
empowerment in the ASEAN region.
“If they are not made, I am
concerned what kind of sustainability the region will have,” he said.
“At the end of the day, if this
region doesn’t figure out that it has to be resilient, it won’t have the
results it could have. I think we have no choice but to be fully engaged in
this region.”
Stuart Alan Becker
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. Since we are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, you may contact us at: sbc.pte@gmail.com, provisionally. Many thanks.
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