Remarks by H.E. Ong Keng Yong
Secretary-General of ASEAN
At the 2006 Harvard Project for Asian
and International Relations Conference
Singapore, 18 August 2006

THEME: REDEFINING ASIA: VISIONS AND REALITIES

1. Thank for inviting me to your conference.

2. Before looking into the future, let me bring you back in time.  Economic history tells us that from roughly 1000 AD until the nineteenth-century industrial age, world trade was more or less governed by the ebb and flow of spices in and out of Southeast Asia.

3. We could even look further back.  Maritime trade between India and China beginning in the first century was enhanced by the strategic locations of Southeast Asian seaports.  Among the earliest ports included those located in what Chinese travelers called Fu-nan situated in the Mekong River delta between Vietnam and Cambodia, and the port city of Palembang located in southeastern Sumatra which gave rise to the Malacca-Sunda Straits as pre-eminent maritime trade routes.

4. Southeast Asian agricultural productivity, particularly rice cultivation, enabled these ports to supply stock provisions for the ships and feed the sailors and traders waiting on the winds.  Southeast Asia was where the earliest cultivation and domestication of rice took place. 

5. To this day, this geographic endowment continues to benefit the Southeast Asian region.

6. But times have changed.  Fundamental differences are obvious between our early economic history and the Southeast Asia of today.  As I see it, there are at least four main differences or new realities.

7. First, there are now multiple countries which have legitimate interests in Southeast Asian waterways and strategic sea lines of communication, both for commercial and military purposes.  As you know, Southeast Asia lies at the intersection of the Eurasian, Pacific Ocean, and Indian Ocean plates.  These countries are mostly the diversified trading partners of Southeast Asia, which, in addition to China and India, include the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand and major European and Middle Eastern countries.

8. Second, the countries of Southeast Asia have now become active partners and competitors in global trade and no longer just economic tributaries.  For instance, ASEAN is now China’s fifth biggest trading partner.  We are the third largest overseas market for U.S. exports.  ASEAN has become the European Union’s sixth largest trading partner.

9. Third, economic globalization has now taken hold.  International trade is increasing faster than the global economy.  Between 1965 and 2000, the share of the world GDP accounted for exports almost doubled from 7.6 percent to 14.7 percent.  It is developing its own regime through multilateral trade agreements under the World Trade Organization and its precursor the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.  Today’s fastest growing economy, China, has found it beneficial to be part of this rules-based multilateral trading system.

10. And fourth, there is increasing interest in regional cooperation both for intra-regional purposes as well as in managing relations vis-à-vis other regions in the world.  In the face of both successes and challenges, Asians increasingly identify with each other more.  We have today several regional and subregional institutions actively working in the fields of development, security, and socio-cultural dialogue and cooperation.

11. Today’s new realities require a new form of regionalism. 

12. This new regionalism aspires to develop a capability for regional governance of globalization process.  It is not aimed at erecting a regional fortress.  New regionalism aims to contribute to managing the forces of globalization in order to maximize and share the opportunities while minimizing the impact of structural adjustments.

13. Efforts to promote regional governance are expressed in the form regional arrangements and agreements.  Our Leaders have become hands-on drivers of these processes as evidenced by the frequency and quality of summitry.  Regional points of view also find their way into world summits on various subjects. 

14. The array of regional arrangements today is a reflection of the competing importance of geography, history, economics, security, politics, and even demographic factors.  These are interesting times to champion and watch how these factors interplay and get sorted out.

15. On the other hand, the overlapping membership of different organizations is a reflection of our increasing interdependence.  This is evident in the memberships of ASEAN, APEC, ARF, EAS, the ASEAN Plus Three process, and other inter-governmental organizations.

16. Moreover, Asia’s inter-regional engagements suggest a desire to reach out to other parts of the world in pursuit of mutual interests and to address transnational challenges.  These include the Asia-Europe Summit, the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation and the Asian-African Summit, among others.

17. Taking into account all these factors, how does one redefine Asia?

18. The answer, of course, depends on the objective and motivation of the exercise.  This means that Asia could mean different thing to different people, interest groups, multinational corporations, and governments.  It is like looking at the same landscape from different windows.

19. Therefore, the challenge before us is to forge our shared vision for the future not because of, but despite of, our different views of Asia.

20. In 2002, the World Economic Forum collected several think pieces into a publication entitled Recreating Asia: Visions for a New Century.  That title is an acknowledgment of the different perspectives of the leading decision and opinion makers of Asia on our future.

21. We should turn this apparent lack of an overarching vision into a blessing in disguise.  As an exercise in confidence building, we should forge that vision in a participative, transparent and evolutionary manner.  One building block at a time. One window at a time.

22. There is reason to be optimistic.  Some broad strokes have already started to appear in the horizon.  ASEAN aspires to build an economic, security and socio-cultural community at peace with itself and with the rest of the world.   The ASEAN Regional Forum aims to contribute to promoting enduring peace and security in Asia and the Pacific through dialogue and cooperation.

23. APEC is committed to work towards building a prosperous Asia Pacific region through free and open trade and investment.  The East Asia Summit, with its long-term goal of establishing a community that would contribute to the maintenance of peace, security, prosperity in the region, has agreed to form part of the evolving regional institutional architecture. 

24. I am aware that the theme of your conference calls for prudence between visions and realities. But I hope that your annual exchanges could also contribute to exploring ways and means of getting us from visions to reality.  Such roadmap should not only serve our peoples’ aspirations and well-being but should inspire them into action.

25. Let me end by passing to you the message conveyed by Malaysia Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi in this ASEAN Lecture on the occasion of the ASEAN Anniversary ten days ago.

26. Prime Minister Badawi said that the secret for ensuring ASEAN’s future survival and growth as a regional entity lies in its ability to find the right formula for managing continuity and change.  He calls on ASEAN to adopt the twin policy of preservation and innovation – keeping what is good and making changes when necessary.

27. This brings me back full circle to where I started.  To redefine a vision for Asia is to rediscover the roots of our strength and potential so that we could grow on them as we transform for the future.  We are fortunate to be living in 21st century Asia. But our common future depends greatly in appreciating the keystones of our common past.

28. Thank you and I wish this year’s Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations Conference great success.

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