Borderless recently caught up with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, who said the European Union can teach Southeast Asia a few lessons as it gears up for the 2015 launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Zakaria, who in 2010 was named among Foreign Policy’s top 100 global thinkers, explains why.
“You have to remember Asia is now in a situation very similar to Europe in the 19th century,” Zakaria told Borderless in an exclusive interview.
Countries in the region are growing fast amid a new sense of cultural awareness, but such unprecedented shifts have also led to a certain degree of nationalism among some countries. And unlike the European Union, Asia does not have an institutionalized framework that ensures there will be negotiations rather than war, he said.
“So its very important to create mechanisms that are integrationist,” he said.
“That moves you toward peace, that moves you toward negotiation rather than arms races and war. And so I see this (the ASEAN Economic Community) as a new part of Asian security.”
In the long run, the AEC may also help boost the economies of less affluent countries in the region, such as Myanmar.
“If you look at the European model, one of the things the European Union has been spectacular at has been integrating and developing the peripheral members. If you go to Poland today and you look at the magnificent infrastructure that Poland has, you ask yourself ‘who paid for it?’ It was all paid for by the European Union,” he said.
“Was that an act of generosity and altruism? To some extent, but really it was a very self-interested bet that you would create new markets and you would raise Poland’s economic standing and Poland would be able to become an equal partner of the European community, and in fact that’s exactly what’s happened.”
“That is the same approach Asia should take,” he said.
“It should view these countries – and Myanmar would be a perfect example – as a place where, by developing the economy, by helping raise standards of living, you create one more center of growth in Asia which will ultimately benefit everyone. Because it creates more producers, more consumers, more investors, more savers.”
“Obviously it must be conditioned upon real reforms, as was the case in the European Union. But by holding out the prospect of very generous aid and integration, you make much more likely that those reforms will take place,” he said.
“So many countries at the periphery of Europe scrambled so hard to implement very tough reforms, because they knew if they did that, the big prize was access to the European market and huge grants from the European Union. That’s a very good model for ASEAN to adopt,” he said.
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