Kevin Rudd pushing for Asian Pacific Union

An address to the Asia Society Australasia in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, the prime minister called for cooperation among the countries of this growing region. Rudd added that he wants the new bloc to include, among many other countries, the United States, China, Japan, India, and Indonesia. Critics view the proposal as overly ambitious and unnecessary.

Cooperation Among Asian and Pacific Nations Key

Rudd, who was elected last November, stressed the importance of Asian and Pacific countries working together now for mutual benefit. Waiting would not be prudent.

“I believe it’s time that we started to think about where we want to be with our regional architecture in 2020,” Rudd said. (The Australian, 6/5/08)

Rudd envisions the new organization cooperating on economic and political issues. Experts say that the region’s economic influence could grow exponentially, especially with the exploding middle-class in countries like India and China.

Politically, the new Asia-Pacific union could work to ease regional conflicts. Rudd pointed to the following territorial disputes as examples:

ª Taiwan Strait
ª Korean Peninsula
ª Kashmir Region

Is an Asia-Pacific Union Necessary?

Critics of Rudd’s proposal deem it unnecessary.

Dennis Jensen, a member of Australia’s House of Representatives, said he didn’t see the need for an Asia-Pacific bloc. “We actually have or had very good relationships with all of the nations in the region so no, it’s not necessary,” Jensen said. (Australian ABC News, 6/5/08)

Australia’s opposition party foreign affairs spokesperson, Andrew Robb, called the plan ‘presumptuous.’

“His first job is not to be making pronouncements about grand architecture for the region, telling China, Indonesia and Japan and India how they will be organized as a region by Australia in the next 20 years,” Robb said. (BBC, 6/5/08)

Rudd has admitted his proposal is bold, but vital to the region’s economic growth and political stability. And he doesn’t appear to be alone.

China on Board with Australia Proposal

While Rudd’s critics voiced their concern, one of the major players in the proposed Asia-Pacific union expressed its support.

Chinese officials said Thursday that they would back any plan that promotes cooperation in the region.

“We hope countries in the Asia-Pacific can make joint efforts to enhance exchanges, political mutual trust and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation so as to promote common development. Any proposal that’s in line with this goal, we will support it,” said Qin Gang, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson.

The Australian prime minister has tapped former ambassador to Indonesia, Richard Woolcott, to spearhead the ambitious plan.

Categories: Asian Union · Global Government

Bhat or buck: Asian Union’s unified currency could end Aussie dollar
June 7, 2008 · 1 Comment
Asian union would mean free trade, says expert

Unified currency could follow

By Jane Metlikovec

Herald Sun | Jun 6, 2008

A UNIFIED currency and open borders could follow any union between Australia and Asia, an expert says.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday announced his plan to create a broad Asia-Pacific Community by 2020.

Asian legal expert Prof Tim Lindsey of Melbourne University said it was too early to speculate about a unified euro-style currency, but it could follow any international pact.

“With a union you have the idea of free trade, and once you have that everything else follows,” he said.

“Australia is uniquely positioned as the only Western society in Asia and we have never capitalised on that, despite most of our commodities going to Asia.”

He said Australia was still suffering from a “colonial hangover” by setting itself apart from Asia.

“This perception of ourselves as a European nation has to change. Our government-to-government relations have improved with Asia so much that we do need to capitalise on it now.”

Opposition MPs are divided on Mr Rudd’s plan, which he put forward in a speech to the Asia Society AustralAsia Centre on Tuesday, ahead of a week-long visit to Japan and Indonesia.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb said Mr Rudd’s plan was presumptuous: “His first job is not to be telling China, Indonesia, Japan and India how they will be organised by Australia.”

But Opposition trade spokesman Ian Macfarlane said he wanted to see more details before making a judgment. “At face value, it’s a step in the right direction,” he said.

Categories: Asian Union · Banking Scandals · European Union · Global Government · Globalization · Social Engineering

Australian PM hails EU-style bloc for Asia-Pacific
June 6, 2008 · 1 Comment
EU Observer | Jun 5, 2008

By LUCIA KUBOSOVA

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has suggested that Asia and Pacific countries, including the region’s heavyweights such as China, India and Japan, form a regional bloc similar to the European Union.

“The key thing is to enhance security and regional co-operation, which at present is fragmented,” Rudd said in a radio interview on Wednesday (4 June), AFP has reported, after he presented the idea during an address to the Asia Society of Australasia.

Mr Rudd suggests Asian-Pacific community would loosely follow the EU’s integration path (Photo: Council of the European Union)

He argued that an “Asia-Pacific Community” could be founded by 2020 as a forum for tackling climate change and terrorism, as well as settling territorial conflicts, such as over Kashmir, the Taiwan Straits and the Korean peninsula.

Furthermore, it could serve as a trade platform to help exploit the benefits of the looming economic power of the region, which he thinks will be “at the centre of global affairs” throughout this century.

“Put simply, global economic and strategic weight is shifting to Asia,” he said.

Commenting on possible comparisons with the 27-strong European Union - which is set to enlarge further - Mr Rudd said that it does not serve as “an identical model of what we would seek to develop in the Asia-Pacific, but what we can learn from Europe is this: It is necessary to take the first step,” according to Radio Australia.

His suggestions come shortly after a similar process of regional integration has resulted in the creation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), set up by a founding treaty signed last month.

The new supranational and intergovernmental body has combined two previously existing customs unions – Mercosur and the Andean Community – with 12 participating countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru and Chile.

Its institutional structure directly copies the EU model, with UNASUR’s headquarters to be located in Quito, Ecuador, a South American parliament seated in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and a ‘Bank of the South’ to be situated in Bogota, Colombia.

Other regional groupings inspired by Europe include a single market without trade barriers for goods and services agreed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as the African Union