Asean: The relevance of multilateralism beyond the pandemic

THE recent 36th Asean Summit saw multilateralism at work during the pandemic. On June 26, 2020, host Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc opened the 36th Asean Summit ( on the theme Cohesive and Responsive) and captured the situation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( Asean) region and the rest of the world with regard to the pandemic. He said, “It has swept away the successes of recent years… threatening the lives of millions of people.”

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong proposed to share technology and vaccines and continue trade despite the pandemic while Malaysian Premier Muyiddin Yassin called for the vaccine when available to be as affordable as it is accessible.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo proposed a “travel corridor” among Southeast Asian nations, and rightly so because tourism and the airline industry have been the hardest hit sectors, with fleets grounded (some might not fly again). He said the region should also facilitate digital connectivity. “The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be our new strength and hope for economic recovery in the region after the pandemic,” Widodo said.

Even at the time when China was the only one seriously threatened, Asean had put the threat of the pandemic on the radar. On February 19, the Asean Defense Ministers’ Meeting ( ADMM) tweaked the annual retreat to deal with the pandemic and came up with a Joint Statement on Defense Cooperation Against Disease Outbreaks. Military assets were used by the Philippines and other Asean countries and China to help contain the spread of the virus. This was followed on March 10 by the Asean Economic Ministers Meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam, which came out with the statement, “Strengthening Asean’s Economic Resilience in Response to the Outbreak of the Covid-19.” It signaled that Asean was hunkering down to face the pandemic.

Highlighting support for the micro, small and medium enterprises, or MSMEs, which have been the most affected, the statement sought to promote business and trade through the unfettered movement of goods and services, improvement of the supply chain resiliency and sustainability, greater use of technology and connectivity, and avoidance of imposing non- tariff barriers on goods. Likewise, separate internet conferences of Asean- European Union and Asean- United States with dialogue partners were held with the pandemic high on the agenda of informationsharing and collaboration.

Dialogue partners

In a span of seven days, Asean +3 ( China, Japan and South Korea) met three times starting with the health ministers followed by the foreign ministers, which paved the way for the special summit of Asean + 3 on April 14. In a joint statement, the leaders called for the establishment of the Asean Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies and Equipment and the Covid- 19 Asean Response Fund given the fact that draconian measures adopted by the Philippines and most Asean countries such as lockdowns and quarantines to save lives had halted livelihoods and silenced the economic engines as a consequence. This scenario sent millions out of jobs, wasted decades of savings in one fell swoop, and sent economies in recession and peoples of Southeast Asia into

depression. More meetings with dialogue partners ensued after this special Asean Summit.

Amid the pandemic, Asean leaders have been preparing for Asean post- pandemic. No doubt the pandemic has already dented regional and country growth year 2020 in varying degrees, scope and consequences; some are already experiencing difficult conditions due to economic contraction in unprecedented proportions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), however, forecasts that Asean will recover much better than most regions around the world. Learning from the lockdown environment of “new normal,” which has zoomed to us that internet technology is no longer “nice to have but need to have,” the leaders at the Asean Summit spelled out the recovery path.

Asean post-pandemic path

The post- pandemic recovery and growth require fresh rafts of fiscal stimulus packages and monetary amelioration policies to provide employment and restore lost jobs. It is imperative now for Asean countries to embark on digitization, 5G, artificial intelligence, e- commerce, learning, work from home, management, education, digital governance, industrial internet, digital prevention of epidemic and the Internet of Things in almost every critical aspect of human activity, and share technology and enabling training to narrow the digital divide among themselves. Employees of in- person businesses threatened with job losses as a result of digitization must be enabled with new skills.

Summing up, Asean SecretaryGeneral Lim Jock Hoi from Kuala Lumpur said that Asean post-pandemic recovery was the shaping of digital governance and preparing for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). Given the economic difficulties post- pandemic, the RCEP might prove to be the biggest stimulus even beyond the economic recovery of the region. Asean and China, as valuable regional partners and leaders in digital technology, at the virtual opening ceremony last month of the China-Asean Digital Economy Cooperation, committed to carry out cooperation in the digital economy this year. Asean digital economy was 1.3 percent of GDP in 2015 and is forecast to be at 8.5 percent of GDP in 2025.

As Asean has restarted the economic engines and opened borders to enhance the flow of goods and services, health protocols such as “wear mask, keep distance, workplace sanitation and personal hygiene” at home and in our borders, must be observed and well-coordinated to obviate any serious resurgence of the virus which would definitely stall and level off the trajectory of recovery, and would likely drag the entire process to much longer time needed than what otherwise would be a quicker recovery period. Then we can stand up to the IMF and World Bank forecast of from near zero Asean GDP in 2020 to 6.5 percent GDP growth in 2021.

Faith in multilateralism

Pursuing an “America First” foreign and domestic policy, the Trump Administration in the US has increasingly withdrawn from important multilateral engagements. The US abandoned the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal and continues not to participate in the global initiatives to combat climate change. The World Trade Organization cannot fully function because the US continues to obstruct the appointment of new judges. Recently, the US withdrew its financial support for the World Health Organization on allegations that the world body had been favoring China and performing poorly in handling the coronavirus pandemic. It is fortunate that the EU, China, Japan and South Korea among other countries continue to trust and believe in the competence of the United Nations and other international organizations. To some extent the pandemic has heightened the threat to multilateralism and globalization. The failure of the global supply chain in the face of the pandemic which wrecked the global economy and contracted economies in unprecedented proportions has caused disillusionment among countries around the world. At the height of the pandemic, Italy felt abandoned by the EU. Despite these setbacks, the multilateral organizations played major roles in combating the pandemic and will surely help raise the world from the wreckage strewn in its aftermath.

The benefits of Asean multilateralism in no small measure continue to provide better living standards in a region of peace, security and stability. Official tourism records showed that in 2018, 45 percent or 56 million of total visitors were from the region itself and earned 12 percent of Asean GDP. Aside from the intraregional free trade agreements (FTA), Asean FTA separately with China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand has brought cheaper goods to the market, created more jobs, and siphoned increased investments to the region. Asean has provided intergovernmental, business-to-business and peopleto-people platforms for dialogue and engagement among membercountries and with the rest of the world on regional and global issues.

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The author is former Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia and former Military Academy, he is a former chief of the Metro Manila Police. He is a trustee of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations.