International

Will the Thai initiative pay dividends?

By Amit Baruah

BANGKOK JUNE 21. It was an enthusiastic effort by Thailand. To gather 17 senior Ministers from across Asia in a bid to take forward the concept of what has been called the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) was no small success.

China, Japan, Korea, India, Bangladesh, Bahrain and Qatar were there with their colleagues from the ASEAN-10 — notable absentees, if any, were from Central Asia. A point of some interest was that the international press, barring the nominal wire agency coverage, was not excited by the ACD idea which has been pushed for over a year by the Thai Government.

It was billed as a gathering of Foreign Ministers, but for some reason New Delhi chose not to send the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh. Instead, the Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, was present. Given a scenario where India has been aggressively promoting itself in Asia (especially South-East Asia), such juggling of Ministers is always noted.

The Chinese Foreign Minister, Tang Jiaxuan, spent just 20 hours at the Dusit resort in Cha-am, but made it a point to attend. In fact, Mr. Singh had also missed the July 2001 ASEAN-India dialogue meeting as well as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting in Hanoi. Such absences have been a cause for comment in a region where India is scheduled to have its first-ever summit meeting with ASEAN in Phnom Penh in November this year.

While there is no denying that Mr. Singh is busy at home and that the Finance Minister can deal with ACD-type situations, the fact remains that serious diplomacy does require the presence of the Foreign Minister, especially where there is scope to guide new initiatives.

As far as the ACD itself is concerned, the 17 Asian countries have identified seven areas of cooperation, including poverty alleviation, transport and communication linkages and human resource development. But, as does happen with a first meeting, these areas are "not new'' and overlap with a number of other Asian initiatives.

While Asian co-operation as a concept is most welcome, hammering out its nitty-gritty will be far from easy. A number of working groups are to be set up to cover the agreed areas of cooperation and a better idea is expected to emerge of the ACD when Ministers meet in Chiang Rai, Thailand, in June next year. However, if the idea was to have the ACD as a "discussion forum'', that certainly will not be the case any more.

For, if the areas agreed to are anything to go by, the ACD countries are now talking in terms of specific cooperative endeavours. This will not be an easy task and the Thais as the ACD "coordinator'' will have to ensure that the 17 participating countries pull their weight in this new Asian forum. There is a definite "personal'' dimension to the ACD idea, which flows from the person of the Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Writings in the Thai press say that Mr. Thaksin is pushing the ACD as a personal mission since he has little to say by way of success in the domain of foreign policy. Soon after the ACD meeting ended, the Thai Foreign Minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, chose to address the assembled press corps in the Thai language, a point that was not missed by the sprinkling of Asian and international reporters covering the meeting.

If the ACD idea is to prove to be a success, then it must cease to be a Thai-promoted exercise. All participating countries, from West, South and South-East Asia must begin to see the idea as their own and not simply as a Thai project. Speaking at the opening session of the ACD at Cha-am on June 19, Mr. Thaksin said: "Thailand is but a small country, but the reason we are bold enough to initiate this important (ACD) undertaking is simply because the initiative comes straight from the heart....we may succeed or we may fail, but at least we shall have tried.''

Mr. Thaksin has spoken the truth. The ACD may emerge as a forum to reckon with or may end up as yet another talk shop. To give it a chance, Thailand, as coordinator for the next 12 months at least, must ensure that the building blocks of the forum are constructed by the widest possible participation.

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