Maastricht Through Asia's Eyes: It's All About Money 
International Herald Tribune
December 6, 1991
Laurence Zuckerman 

A Hong Kong businessman was relaxing on the deck of his luxury cabin cruiser reading a newspaper a few weeks ago when he came across a report about a sudden rise in the value of the Deutsche mark. Turning to a guest in puzzlement, he asked, "What is Maastricht?"

To even the most sophisticated Asian executives and diplomats outside Japan, the European Community summit meeting is as unfamiliar as its Dutch locale.

"I am supposed to be informed, but I don't know anything about it," said Narong Chai, an economist and chairman of the General Finance and Securities Company in Bangkok. "I don't know where they are meeting or what they are talking about."

But the fact that most Asians are unaware of the frenzied political maneuvering as the Maastricht meeting approaches does not mean they are indifferent to an economically united Europe. On the contrary, the prospect of a single European market is of profound concern to Asia's export-oriented economies.

An informal survey of policymakers, diplomats and business executives throughout the region revealed that Maastricht has attracted little attention because it is viewed as an extension of the economic integration of Europe set to begin after 1992.

"It is a continuation of a process people already know about," said Melissa Brown, research director of Barclays de Zoete Wedd in Seoul.

But the main issues to be discussed at the meeting - political union, a single European currency and a central bank - are far removed from the day-to-day concerns of most Asian nations, which are preoccupied with bilateral trade disputes and the threat to global free trade posed by the deadlocked Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

"At this stage, all issues are secondary to the question of market access," Ms. Brown said. "Most of these countries don't have the luxury of thinking about the other issues because they can't influence the outcome."

Thus, just as many in Asia were beginning to feel comfortable with European assurances about 1992, rumors of radical new initiatives at Maastricht may revive pessimists' fears of an inward-looking "Fortress Europe" that will become increasingly protectionist and soak up investment and trade otherwise destined for Asia's developing nations.

"We hope that the European countries will not be so preoccupied with these developments and what is happening in Eastern Europe that they stop paying attention to what is happening in Asia," said a diplomat whose country belongs to the Association of South East Asian Nations, which includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Depending on its outcome, the Maastricht meeting could give impetus to a movement to establish some form of Asian economic union to counter the feared clout of both Europe and the proposed North American Free Trade Area, consisting of Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia has warned that unless Asia joins together it will be at the mercy of these two emerging trade blocs. Opposition by the United States has succeeded in blunting regional support for Mr. Mahathir's East Asian Economic Caucus, but that and several other proposals, including an Asean Free Trade Area advanced by Bangkok, will be on the agenda of the ASEAN summit meeting to be held in Singapore in January.

Meanwhile, Asians who are optimistic about a more integrated Europe see Maastricht as simply more of a good thing. Asian investors have flocked to Britain and the Continent to establish European bases in advance of 1992. Europe is now the destination for roughly one-third of Asian exports, as manufacturers have succeeded in diminishing their dependence on the flagging United States market.

Jack Lau, group managing director of Tomei International, a producer of consumer electronics in China and Southeast Asia, says European union makes it significantly easier for Asian entrepreneurs to enter Europe because a presence in a single country will soon offer access to the entire market. In addition, he said, the standardization and deregulation that is accompanying economic union will open up myriad opportunities in fields such as telecommunications and financial services.

"Rather than the EC putting up a fence, they are opening up their market," Mr. Lau said.

While most of Asia is paying little attention to the security issues being taken up at Maastricht, there is one exception: China. Apart from Japan, China is the only other country in the region with the potential to attain big-power status. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Beijing is taking renewed interest in European security.

"China is very interested in security developments at Maastricht," said Pierre du Chateau, head of the EC delegation in Beijing.

Mr. du Chateau said that during the recent visit by James A. Baker 3d, the U.S. secretary of state, it was clear that China was positioning itself to be an equal partner with the United States and a united Europe on global security affairs.

Copyright © 2006 The International Herald Tribune