Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, the current ASEAN Secretary General once
said that it is countries in the middle that impede the progress towards
building an ASEAN community. Why did he make such a remark?
Countries at the top are more than willing to take part in
the establishment of community, in particular economic community because they
are already highly competitive. A community will allow them better access to
the neighboring market and they are certainly not worried that they will lose
out in terms of efficiency if they open their borders to freer trade among
ASEAN member economies.
Similarly, countries at the bottom are also more than
willing to take part in this endeavor because after having been isolated for
periods of time, they want to plug themselves into the globalized world and
joining the ASEAN community is certainly a good starting point for doing so.
Countries in the middle view things rather differently.
Opening their markets to freer trade is bound to benefit some groups but at the
same time, is going to hurt some groups and these are not weak groups. Having
been protected by their governments, they have grown into strong interest
groups capable of influencing government policies. They would definitely prefer
to maintain the status quo so as to maintain their current level of
wealth and benefits.
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