The core theme of today's Opening Plenary is the need for greater Asian synergy.
After Japanese Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka called for accelerated reform regionwide (see previous post), Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan Keng-Yam agreed that "Asia must relentlessly continue its reforms." He said that Asia must "strengthen resilience by building regional cooperation."
Victor L.L. Chu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong's First Eastern Investment Group agreed that the region needs to develop a new "system of synergy."
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou believes that the “I.T. sector will continue to serve as the engine for recovery in East Asia.” He says a vital key to Asia's sustained recovery is to deepen regional integration, and also to achieve a smarter regional division of labor. However he warns that regional tensions - such as military tensions over the Taiwan straits - could distrupt Asia's recovery if not properly managed.
Sir Martin Sorrell, the Roundtable's Co-Chair and E. Mervyn Davies, of Standard Chartered Bank gave the perspective of Western multinationals.
Sorrell says we are already seeing the birth of major multinational global corporations around Asia - not just in Korea and Japan, but also in China and India. As a result, he says, the world is witnessing a significant shift in wealth “which the West finds very difficult to comprehend or understand.”
Davies points out that Asia as an entity is less dependent on the West and more self-sufficient than it was in the past. Thus he believes the West will have to work more actively in the future to find a clear strategy and path for successful economic engagement with Asia.
With all this talk of "synergies" and "regional integration", I wonder how far Asian states will take these ideas. Could we one day see an "Asia Union"?
Posted by: Samantha | June 15, 2004 at 10:11