* This is my guest post today in the EFN Asia website.
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In less than six weeks, I will fly to Seoul, then Jeju, S. Korea,
to attend the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, May 29-31, 2013. The
Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia will participate in one of the panel
discussions on Day 2, and I will be the rapporteur for that panel.
There will be plenty of panel discussions on those 2 1/2 days
forum. To accommodate them all, there will be about five simultaneous
discussions on each time block. See the list of topics here.
Day 1, May 29, I plan to attend session 1-D, "Cultural Exchange and Tourism Promotion in Asia Pacific
Region". To
achieve more peace and prosperity in the region and the world in general,
mobility of goods and services/people should be made as free as possible.
People will think less of war and conflict provocation if they see the beauty
of other places and countries, if they understand the cultural practices in
other places and hence, realize the need for more tolerance, to respect
diversity among people. Human rights are respected in the process as people
learn to be more tolerant of other people's cultural belief and practices,
their social and economic aspirations.
Then on the next panel, I plan to listen to session 2-A, Making Ideas
Work: Challenges and Opportunities for Think Tanks in Asia. Many of the co-sponsors and partners of
the Jeju Forum are think tanks, government and private. For me, the main
purpose of think tanks, Minimal Government Thinkers included, is to explore new
ways, more efficient and less costly ways, to attain a particular vision for
the country, for the region, and the world. And that vision is a society where
people have freedom and a peaceful environment so they can pursue more social
and economic prosperity, both for the present and future generations.
Many private think tanks though are constrained by funding. That
is why among the biggest think tanks in Asia and the world are government-owned
ones, their funding are assured yearly from taxes. One problem here though is
that their research agenda and content is subject to explicit or implicit
pressure from the politicians and officials of the national government.
On Day 2 morning, I hope to attend session 3-C, Asia-Pacific Development and the Future of Korean ODA. I do not believe in the overall
effectivity of Official Development Assistance (ODA) as it is a government to
government (G2G) transfer of money and resources. If one or both is/are
corrupt, then its effectivity in uplifting the lives of poor people in the
less-developed country is immediately compromised if not negated. So the main
beneficiaries of this G2G transfer are the politicians and officials, employees
of the recipient governments.
I think the best people to people (P2P) transfer of resources is
via free trade (goods and services), more foreign investments and tourism.
Nonetheless, I have to hear what the speakers have to say on the subject. There
could be new things and development in this area.
Disclosure: I was a former Korea International Cooperation Agency
(KOICA) scholar, a two-weeks seminar on "Technology and Policy" in
1996 when I was still working at CPBO, House of Representatives. I enjoyed that
seminar, I learned many things, aside from the many trips, hotel transfers,
nice food, mountain resort tour, and warm, friendly Korean hosts and tour
guides.
Or I might skip this session and attend the session on 3-A, Coping with North Korean Nuclear Quagmire - What Options are
Available? I like a
quip from a friend in Korea who said, "A dog that
barks loud does not bite". Exactly my sentiment, that the war mongering
pronouncements by the North Korean leader Kim Jung-Un was more addressed to his
countrymen, sort of saying, "My people, we will take on the mighty US and
S. Korea militarily, so prepare for more hardships in life." The military
confrontation is highly uncertain but economic hardships of the ordinary North
Koreans will be a certainty.
A "World Leader's Session" will follow these sessions,
before lunch. I think this is where past Prime Ministers or Presidents of some
Asian countries will speak in a big plenary hall.
After lunch, I want to hear session 4-A, East Asian Regional Integration with ASEAN as the Driving
Force. I think this
is a good formulation. East Asia is actually dominated economically by the "big
3" -- China, Japan and S. Korea. But problem is that there are several
lingering conflict among them. Like the on-going territorial dispute over small
islands between China and Japan, which affects trade and investments on both
countries. And the China "big brother" assistance to North Korea,
which irritates the people in South Korea. I do not know if previous Japanese
colonization of S. Korea is still a bitter memory for ordinary Koreans until
now or not.
ASEAN member countries though, have few conflicting issues and
have more issues and interests in common. In particular, the ASEAN Free Trade
Area (AFTA) that will fully materialize just two years from now, in 2015. ASEAN
is about 650 million consumers: About 250 M Indonesians + nearly 100 M
Filipinos + nearly 90 M Vietnamese + 68 M Thais + 62 M Myanmars + 30 M
Malaysians , these six countries alone have a combined population of
almost 600 M people already. I heard one Malaysian diplomat who defined AFTA as
"Agree First, Talk After".
Then, OUR session, the EFN Asia time, from 3:40 - 5:00 pm, session
5-A, Economic Prosperity in Asia: Dealing with
Economic Nationalism. The
line up of speakers may not have been finalized yet, but a friend from Kuala
Lumpur, the President of Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS),
a free market think tank in Malaysia, Wan Saiful Wan Jan, will be the
moderator and I will be the rapporteur.
Wait, is there no inconsistency between session 4-A and 5-A? The
former focuses on economic integration while the latter talks about economic
nationalism and protectionism? Well, both are realities and happening at the
same time. For instance, the Philippine economy will have free trade with its
neighbors in the ASEAN but will retain its generally protectionist policy to
other countries.
In a period of global economic uncertainties and financial
turmoil, the tendency of many governments is to become more protectionist,
restrict imports to "protect local jobs". But what if local jobs and
businesses will be more productive if they use cheaper raw materials, machines
and capital goods from abroad? And by turning to protectionism, an economy
loses the goodwill of other countries that have been its trade partner for many
years? These are among the questions and issues that our panel speakers will
tackle, directly or indirectly.
In the next round of
sessions, I will most likely attend session 6-A, Unraveling the
Dynamism of the Asian Economy: Patterns of Cooperation and Conflict in Trade,
Finance, and FDI. This will be an appropriate follow up to sessions
4-A and 5-A. Identifying sources of cooperation and conflict -- in trade,
finance and foreign direct investments. I would like to believe that in either
cases of conflict or cooperation among Asian neighboring economies, the
prospect of competition among themselves to attract more foreign trade, more
foreign capital and investments, should be in the minds of Asian government
officials. This way, they cannot be too rigid and inflexible in their policies
to please local players and even local oligarchs.
Lots of exciting panels
to attend and listen to. I am getting more excited to attend the Jeju Forum.
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See also:
