Thirteen years after its launch, the informal process of dialogue within the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is still in its infancy and has produced only few tangible results.In 1996 in Bangkok, the EU took a decisive step in order to catch up in Asia with the dominant influence of the US, which has been playing a central role in the region since World War Two. In the Thai capital, EU leaders held their first summit meeting with their Asian counterparts, launching the ASEM process. It mirrored the US-led Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), with the objective of asserting European economic interests in this fast developing region of the world. With a summit held every two years, alternatively in Asia or in Europe, the ASEM process has led to a significant upgrade of intercontinental relations, providing an opportunity to discuss regional and global issues at the highest level. ASEM’s enlargement to more than 40 members, including India and Pakistan in 2006, which represent more than half of the world’s GDP, demonstrates the potentials of the process.

“When the EU and Asia work together they can influence the global agenda,” stresses a European Commission official. Hence, the latest ASEM summit, held in October in Beijing, gave a global push in favour of a coordinated and ambitious response to the global economic and financial crisis at a critical time, when the outgoing Bush administration in the US was reluctant to take concrete steps. In 1998, in the aftermath of the Asian crisis, EU leaders came to the rescue of their counterparts, pledging to maintain their economic commitment during the London summit. At the grass root level, the Singapore-based Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) plays an active role in promoting academic and people-to-people exchanges between the two continents.

“TALK SHOP”

ASEM “is essentially a talk shop,” according to a diplomat. The informal nature of the process prevents leaders and ministers from taking binding decisions and the summits’ joint declarations often resemble a catalogue of good intentions with few tangible results. At the numerous thematic ministerial meetings taking place all the year round, attendance is often limited and participation rarely goes beyond exchanging ideas. Sensitive issues, such as Burma (Myanmar), human rights or the environment are often put on the back burner in order to avoid open confrontation, say several NGOs.

This situation is expected to last, since neither the European member states nor their Asian counterparts are willing to transform ASEM into a more formal forum with a secretariat. In Beijing, leaders have agreed to raise the visibility of the ASEM process that remains very low among citizens, but no decisive steps were taken (such as the setting up of secretariat). The partners will assess the progress achieved during their next summit, scheduled for the second half of 2010 in Brussels.