Asian editorial excerpts-AN SIAN UNION OR DIVISION?

TOKYO, Jan. 10 Kyodo

Selected editorial excerpts from the Asia-Pacific press:

AN ASIAN UNION OR DIVISION? (Business Times, Kuala Lumpur)

Singapore might want to slow down a little. We all have grand ideas about becoming what we are not yet or even what we might never be but the latest proposal by the city state for an Asian version of the European Union is bound to leave everybody else breathless.

This is not to say that Singapore Information and Communications Technology Minister Yeo Cheow Tong, who made the call on Monday, is hallucinating but something so ambitious as an Asian Union should be discussed thoroughly with everyone potentially involved.

An Asian version of the EU is an idea that has been thought of many times before primarily because of its grandeur. But in terms of whether it is a practicable idea or not, a lot more discussion on the concept itself is required.

If Singapore is thinking of bringing together the ''rich'' Asian economies to make up an Asian Union, then there will be a lot of gaps in the geography of the union: there is Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, perhaps Malaysia and Thailand.

But who else? China and India have vast markets but not the purchasing power; and the skills but not the jobs. Brunei is still rich but it has little else to offer an Asian Union.

Do you leave out Indonesia because of its socio-political problems, the Philippines because of its economic slump, the Indochinese countries because of their lagging economies?

While the right to think of the grand ideas for Asia is not the exclusive right of any individual, it is an irony to have the idea of an Asian Union coming from Singapore.

The republic could not agree to a loose, consultative grouping like the East Asian Economic Caucus when the idea came up a decade ago and is currently in a bit of a hot soup for going it alone on those controversial trade deals with Japan, the United States and other rich countries.

Still, Yeo should not be deterred and continue to try and sell the idea. For most, perhaps a more practical course is to look at the more urgent tasks at hand.

With its resources and many great ideas, Singapore can contribute greatly towards the strengthening of ASEAN. There is also an effort to establish an Asian Monetary Fund and there has been talk of a single ASEAN currency.

While these proposals are well short of the idea of an Asian Union, they are still good starting points that Yeo and Singapore might want to consider.

(Jan. 10)

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