EUROPE IN EMERGING ASIA
Opportunities and Obstacles in Political And Emerging Encounters
Edited by Fredrik Erixon & Krishnan Srinivasan
Rowman and Littlefield
292 pages; Rs 1,295
The 21st century was almost upon us when Portugal was evicted from its and Europe's last colony in Asia, Macau. Less than two decades since then, that event seems to have occurred in the distant past.
Europe has seemingly fallen off the radar for Asia. Neither does a European Union (EU) free trade agreement (FTA) with any of the Asian countries grab sizable display in the business media nor has any commentator seriously sought a European response to the latest global economic flashpoint currently on in South China Sea. Has ascendant Asia so quickly shed a link with Europe, which shaped most of its global history of the past 400 years?
Just as Asia - the Association of South Eastern Nations (Asean) and China in particular - seems to offer even more opportunities by opening up its economies, Europe's headlines seem to be getting more insular. A Brookings paper released this month discusses how quintessentially European projects like free migration across the borders of its states "is at risk". At antipodal ends of the continent, Turkey has taken the rap for opening the gates to millions of migrants from Syria to countries up north, while Britain is torturing itself deciding whether to stay in the Union.
Yet, just as it seemed that "emerging Asia and Europe are on different trajectories" the migration crisis could up-end all of that to force a significant pan-Asian response. So far, since the catastrophe engulfing Syria and Iraq has only moved westwards in its impact, the rest of Asia beyond West Asia has sort of looked on.
Against this backdrop, Europe in Emerging Asia, edited by Fredrik Erixon and Krishnan Srinivasan, is a challenging assignment. Unfortunately, this collection of 12 essays was compiled before the migration crisis so those issues do not surface directly in the book. But the essays offer some useful hints: "While European countries have invested political and institutional capital in creating pan-European institutions of governance, emerging Asian nations remain anchored in the Westphalian structure of government and power," the authors note in their introduction.
It was those institutions that allowed for free movement of labour and of capital, spurring an explosive rise in living standards in Europe after two world wars. It was the template that Asian blocs have tried to replicate till now, unsuccessfully mostly for the reasons the authors have pointed out. And as one of the essays points out, the growing economic interdependence among the Asian nations "in the absence of an established multilateral mechanism for security cooperation... [that creates] uncertainty and instability".
Yet it is an Asian paradox that the region has managed to grow fast enough to challenge the economic leadership of the continent of its former political masters. And since Europe is in for a long phase of deceleration in economic power, that creates room for what Mr Erixon describes as "adding sharpness to the existing disputes between Europe and emerging Asia". "What is clear, however, is that Europe feels that the economic rise of Asia challenges its leadership position inherited from the post-World War II settlement and offers rearguard resistance," he writes. It is this theme that the essays explore from the perspective of the different nations.
According to Evi Fitriani, the race to pole position is still not decided when one looks at Asean countries and the EU. The relationships have become triangular with the emergence of China with its reach among these nations. The author argues that a key element to re-balance power is the string of FTAs the EU is signing with the members. "[It] is an instrument of strategy used by the Europeans to return to South East Asia. The EU strategy is to provide an overarching framework for trade and regional integration, and...make big efforts to dismantle existing trade barriers through the proposed FTAs ".
Evaluating the same theme, Jin Park concludes that the range of trade agreements South Korea has signed with EU has helped the former tide over the global depression. "During the general downturn, the Korea EU-FTA proved itself to be of formidable assistance across numerous industries." Based on this evidence, he goes on to argue for the need to expand trade relations to a larger regional framework in north Asia, even extending to support for political issues like the deepening of democracy. In a fraught political zone, he feels agreements could provide strategic depth to the Korean economy.
But there is a sense across the book that the relative decline of Europe, often clinging to old mind-sets in some cases, has meant the continent has missed the connection to Asia. India could be a bit different, as Mr Krishnan notes: "Europe is not threatening and does not feel threatened by India". But others are less diplomatic. Wang Yiwei, outlining the nature of the delayed signing of China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership says, though the two zones are the second-largest trader for each other, the agreement is "neither a partnership, nor strategic and nor comprehensive, since the EU cannot be regarded as a comprehensive international player in the world system".
The rest of Asia tends to take its cue from China.
