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SPEAKING
FREELY
Pakistan courts Southeast
Asia
By Raakhee Suryaprakash
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing.
The recent tour of
Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to four
Southeast Asian countries was a highly strategic
move on the part of his government. Pakistan's
ex-Wall Street banker premier has been working
overtime, both as finance minister and prime
minister, to resolve the nation's debt problems in
the quest to stabilize its economy. While Pakistan
has very good, rich friends in the two global
powers of today, the US and China, other windows
of opportunity are also being explored by the
Pakistani administration.
Pakistan's
"Strategic vision East Asia", launched in October
2003, is a crucial step in its aim to stabilize
itself and make new friends. Although nearly a
decade behind India's "Look East" policy,
Pakistan's wooing of East Asian interests is
proceeding at quite an impressive pace. After
witnessing Aziz's visits to four of the 10 members
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and President General Pervez Musharraf's
visit to the Philippines and Indonesia during the
golden jubilee celebrations of the non-aligned
Bandung summit, it is evident that Pakistan seems
to be challenging and competing with India's
popularity with its East Asian neighbors.
Aziz, who was accompanied by a delegation
consisting of important members of his Council of
Ministers, Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan,
and Pakistani media personnel, projected the tour
as a significant step for enhancing Pakistan's
role in the region.
Most experts see
Aziz's eight-day tour of Malaysia, Singapore,
Thailand and Brunei Darussalam, which began on May
4, as mainly a means of garnering support for
Pakistan's attempt to acquire full-dialogue
partner (FDP) status with ASEAN. But other motives
are involved.
In the course of his visits,
Aziz not only put forth a proposal for cooperation
in combating terrorism, but also initiated talks
for free-trade agreements (FTAs) and preferential
trading arrangements (PTAs) with these nations as
soon as possible to boost Pakistan's economy.
Although Pakistan has a sectoral
partnership with ASEAN, because its economic
relations hadn't reached significant levels, full
dialogue partnership was denied to it in 1996,
when India was given this new status. Pakistan has
lobbied for not only a full dialogue partnership,
but also for membership in the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF). ARF membership requires the consensus
of all members. Hence, Pakistan was invited to
join the ARF in mid-2004, only after it gave an
assurance to the Indian administration that
controversial bilateral issues wouldn't be raised
in the forum. India's willingness to accept
Pakistan into ARF can also be attributed to the
new ground gained in confidence-building measures
and negotiations between the two countries.
The ARF members hope the presence of both
South Asian nuclear-weapon states in the forum
will encourage the two to have more informal,
bilateral dialogue on the sidelines of forum
meets, which would enhance the security of the
Asia-Pacific region. Pakistan has now requested an
invite to the East Asia summit to be held in
Malaysia later this year. Although China, Japan,
South Korea and Australia were among the first
non-ASEAN nations to be invited, India and New
Zealand have since been invited as well. This has
urged Pakistan to seek representation in the
inaugural East Asia summit.
The fact that
since September 11, 2001, Pakistan has become a
frontline state in the US "war on terrorism" has
also led to renewed support from some ASEAN
states, particularly Thailand, Indonesia and
Malaysia, to the move to accord it FDP status. The
presence and activities of Islamic terrorist
groups in the Southeast Asian region have led
these nations to hope for Pakistan's support and
expertise in dealing with them. In this context,
the Pakistan premier's proposal to sign a
declaration on combating terrorism with ASEAN was
an apt initiative. Today, Pakistan's assertion
that it no longer supports or condones terrorism
enjoys greater credibility.
While in
Brunei and Malaysia, Aziz sought investment in
Pakistani infrastructure, banking and insurance,
as well as continuing negotiations on what is
called the Early Harvest Program, a precursor to
enhanced economic and commercial relations between
Malaysia and Pakistan that is due to take effect
by July this year. The attempt to export Pakistani
labor and manpower proficient in English as well
as products and services was a significant aspect
of the negotiations with these nations.
In
Singapore, in addition to the above-mentioned
economic inputs, the premier sought cooperation
and investment in higher education, the
information technology sector, nursing, housing
and the hotel industry, as well as the resumption
of Singapore Airline flights to Pakistan.
As a banking plutocrat, Aziz is best
placed to generate the needed public relations. In
fact, his personal friendship with his Thai
counterpart, Thaksin Shinawatra, formerly a
telecom tycoon, has been instrumental in the
visible improvement in relations between Islamic
Pakistan and Buddhist Thailand in the recent past.
In addition to the Muslim-majority ASEAN members'
support, the changes in economic relations with
Thailand have added a new dimension to Pakistan's
case for being granted FDP status. In Thailand, in
addition to meeting the royal couple and
inaugurating a Thai-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce,
another notable feature was the attempt to hasten
negotiations to set up an FTA between the two
countries, aimed to increase bilateral trade to
US$1 billion annually.
Aziz's tour's most
significant feature was his numerous media
engagements in all four nations, including press
conferences, breakfast and lunch meetings with
journalists, as well as interviews to newspapers,
radio and television, thus generating a
multi-faceted and friendlier image for his
country. Good public relations for Pakistan have
become a defining feature of Pakistani diplomacy
since Musharraf came to power in October 1999 in a
bloodless coup.
It is evident that Aziz's
strategic tour of Southeast Asia has added to
Pakistan's image as a significant player in the
global arena. In the course of his tour of
Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, the
Pakistani premier managed not only to spruce up
the overall image of his country, but also to open
up new avenues to restructure the country's
economy.
Raakhee Suryaprakash is
a research intern, Observer Research Foundation,
Chennai Chapter.
Speaking Freely
is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest
writers to have their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing. |
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