[asia-apec 112] Statement at Press Conference on APEC, Hong Kong

[daga]

Statement at Press Conference on APEC

Date   : Sept. 14, 1996, 3:00 pm
Venue: Confederation of Trade Unions
           Yaumatei, Hong Kong  

by Walden Bello*

     Good afternoon to all our friends from the press.

     First of all, we would like to say that this afternoon, the
International Convenors Committee of the Manila People's Forum on APEC is
releasing the Individual Action Plans (IAP) for all 18 countries.  This
include the action plans of China and Hong Kong.  These action plans contain
all the commitments being made by these 18 countries to liberalize their
trade and investment regimes.  These documents are highly confidential, and
will not be released to the public until after the November APEC Summit in
Manila.

Democratizing Information

     Please do not ask us how we got them.  We can only say that people who
are central to the APEC process have provided them to us because they are
worried about where that process is heading.  We are releasing them here
today becauyse we feel that one of the conditions for the exercise of
democracy is access to information.  People in the Philippines and the other
Asia-Pacific countries must know what their governments are committing them
to, without their knowledge.  As far as we know, very few, if any, of these
plans, have been discussed and approved democratically, either via popular
referenda or by national legislative mechanisms.

US Pressure for Liberalization

      Having said this, let me say that many governments in Asia, including
those of China and Hong Kong, have submitted these liberalization plans
largely because of pressure from the United States.  Despite the fact that
the Osaka Summit of APEC last year came out with a declaration that
liberalization must be carried out voluntarily, flexibly, and in a
non-binding fashion, Washington has consistently pursued its goals of making
trade and investment liberalization collective, comparable, and, most of
all, binding.

     In subverting Osaka, Washington has followed a four-stage plan:

     First, it has demanded the submission of what US APEC Ambassador John
Wolf has specified as "solid," comprehensive, and detailed liberalization plans.

     Second, it has pressured the Philippine government, as host, to take
the lead in making these plans comparable, both in scope and in the solidity
of their liberalization commitments.

     Third, the US will use this base of comparable country commitments as
the yardstick for measuring the different countries' progress in
liberalizing their economies, thus creating considerable pressure on those
who, for various reasons, fail to undertake their commitments are on
schedule when it comes to implementation.

     Fourth, the action plans of the different countries, once they are
harmonized, will serve as the basis of a future free trade treaty like the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  Malaysian Trade Minister
Rafidah Aziz may call the idea of a free trade area by the year 2020 a
"dream," but make no mistake about it, Washington and Canberra, in
particular, are deadly serious in pursuing it.

The Struggle of Two Visions for APEC

     In conclusion, let me say that former Australian Foreign Minister
Gareth Evans once described APEC or the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
as "four adjectives in search of a noun."  What that noun will be depends on
the outcome of the struggle between two strategic visions of APEC that is
going on in that forum.  Most Asian countries want APEC to remain faithful
to the original vision of it as simply a loose forum for consultation on
technical economic issues, much like the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD).  They do not favor a free trade area
because, by committing them to eliminate all trade restrictions and bring
down tariffs to zero, they would lose the flexibility of using trade policy
for larger developmental objectives, like deepening their industrial sector,
strengthening their small and medium industries, and promoting sustainable
development.

     Washington, however, backed mainly by Australia and New Zealand, has a
different vision, and that is to create a free trade area via collective,
comparable, and binding liberalization plans, with fixed schedules.  As the
US Action Plan puts it, "free and open trade in the APEC region" by the year
2020.  As the Asian governments know only too well, Washington's goal is to
reassert a significant trade and investment presence in a part of the world
that has steadily slipped from the US economic orbit by using free trade
mechanisms to dismantle the system of tariffs and other mechanisms by which
they have created prosperous economies.  These action plans bring us closer
to the realization of the US vision for APEC.

     Thank you. 

*Dr. Walden Bello is chairperson of the International Convenors Committee of
the Manila People's Forum on APEC.  He is a professor of sociology and
public administration at the University of the Philippines and co-director
of the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South, a program of Chulalongkorn
University.  He is the author of several books on Asian political and
economic issues, including Dragons in Distress: Asia's Miracle Economies in
Crisis (London: Penguin, 1991).