The Fletcher School

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Dean Bosworth,
Fletcher Colleagues,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

More than 20 years ago, I was sitting in one of those seats you are sitting now. The occasion was one of these special Lecture Series. The Speaker was the Foreign Minister of Thailand at the time. How things have changed! Or rather, how things haven’t changed!

On that day it never occurred a bit in my mind that one day it would be me standing here at Fletcher. That’s how things have changed. But the air, the atmosphere of extreme intellect, unique to the faculty and the students of Fletcher I felt then are still right here, every bid of it, still exactly the same today. Nothing has changed. So how glad I am to be back to the very tradition of this most prestigious Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy once again.

Coming back to Fletcher after more than two decades of interval brings so much memory and joy to my wife and I and of course our son who was born in Boston, a month and a half before my oral comprehension examination. I still remember how I felt raising a baby and preparing for oral exam at the same time. Fortunately, I passed. But I would not recommend that this is the best way to pass an exam.

When I left Fletcher for Harvard, I really had no idea that one day I would return to my dear school in this capacity. But with the turn of events, today I am back to Fletcher with a great sense of gratitude for the teachings of the Fletcher School that have been so rewarding for me. More particularly, I am grateful to one Fletcher terminology that keeps ringing and reminding me. The one description that has proved so correct but sounded so sarcastic at the time unless and until you have the chance to experience it in real life. The one remark that I have the opportunity to prove right and to be able to relate to so many of my acquaintances and colleagues. So today I am back at Fletcher to confirm, perhaps like several alumni of our school before me, that the Fletcher’s description of the task of Foreign Ministers, as “professional generalist” is an indisputable proven theory!

Having said that, if I could have one complaint for the school, it would be that while I was here why the School did not offer in law and diplomacy a course on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, also known as SARS, on avian influenza which has nothing whatsoever to do with aviation but in fact, it’s the bird flu, a course on biofuel, biodiesel and flexfuel, a course on STAR initiative which has nothing to do with Hollywood entertainment, a course on PISCES which has nothing to do with horoscope, but both of which are trade and satellite related marine and air security programmes, for instance. These are all the things a foreign minister these days may have to deal with, or at least I have done so in the past few years, apart from other diplomatic incidents, routine and non-routine. As foreign minister, you cannot and indeed are not expected to know all these wide-ranging issues in great detail. But ignorance of them these days can lose you the job! So as a foreign minister, I have to know a bit about this and that and almost everything even outside the international politics, international law, international economics, and diplomacy matters. A professional generalist indeed. But I have to admit that Fletcher curriculum and training had prepared me well to learn quickly to be an advanced professional generalist.

Since assuming office as Minister of Foreign Affairs in early 2001, I had always planned to visit the Fletcher School but never succeeded due to my scheduling. Nevertheless, I have always been in constant contact with the Fletcher School. I have had the opportunity of welcoming Dean Bosworth in Bangkok on several occasions. The turn has now come for me to pay him a visit. I thank him for the very warm reception extended to me and my family. And I very much appreciate the kind invitation extended by Dean Bosworth to address the distinguished annual “Charles Francis Adam” lecture series today. Thank you for the honor.

Distinguished Guests,

The topic I have chosen is on the future of Asia. This topic has been widely discussed since my years at Fletcher. Since then, as you know, the world landscape has changed over and over. The end of the Cold War and globalization were two of several major events changing the politics and political geography of the world including Asia. The map of Asia today, the economy of Asia today and the role of Asia today are so different from what we discussed here in my class. And, quite possibly, what you discuss today in your class about Asia may be different from what Asia could be in another 20 years’ time. Asia itself may be a dynamic continent. But globalization has awaken Asia to the new realism. Globalization has brought many Asian leaders a new paradigm of thinking on how to survive, how to grow, how to develop and how to sustain.

If you ask Asian leaders their impression on globalization and its impacts, the answers may vary. If you ask them whether they believe globalization is good or bad, the answer could be either. Some may even say globalization entails both the bright side and the dark side. But if you ask all of them what they would describe globalization in general, I believe, they will say it is a challenge. A challenge because many of them believe that globalization brings benefits to some and sufferings to others and they have to learn to cope with that. To cope with globalization is to learn to manage its impacts. To manage its impacts is to understand that globalization is human creation, human-made so it must be human-manageable for the benefit of all mankind.

As a new challenge, globalization therefore needs to be approached with a new paradigm of thinking. Since globalization also brings with it a world of increased interdependence among regions and nations, the new paradigm inevitably has to deal with the concept of increasingly borderless world. With globalization, several Asian countries, including Thailand, have learned a lesson the hard way when many of us were severely hit by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. That financial crisis has taught us how capital volatility in the globalized world can undermine economic stability from one country to another without effective barriers or hurdles. The crisis has awakened many Asian countries to revisit the impacts of globalization. The financial crisis has awakened many Asian countries to accept that globalization affects all nations big or small. All nations must learn and many have learned to live with it, some with success, many without. The 1997 crisis has awakened many Asian countries to accept that we are all bound together to make the effects of globalization a success for all.

No country nor region can stand alone in this increasingly interdependent world. Throughout the various corners of the globe, each and every region are forging closer economic cooperation to meet new challenges and to benefit from globalization; benefit from the free flow of people, free flow of goods and services, free flow of financial funds and the free flow of information technology.

But Asia has been lagging far behind other regions in forging continent-wide cooperation. For centuries, Asia has been responsible for its own impediments to development. Asia has been competing against each other to our own disadvantage. Asia has failed to best utilize Asia’s indigenous and inner strengths. If the War and history have divided Europe, Europe has learned from history and got united so that it will never be divided and devastated by any war again. Asia, too, must leave the scar of history behind us, and turn the history that kept us apart into the element that keeps us together.

Asia is a continent of diversity. No one can underestimate the enormous wealth and assets of Asia. We have abundance of resources. We have a long history of civilization. We are rich in cultures and traditions. But diversity is not a cause of weakness, diversity is not a cause of poverty, diversity is not a cause of division. The choice of Asia is to craft our diversity into our strengths and advantages in coping with globalization.

With China, Japan and India and the recovering Southeast Asia after the 1997 crisis, there comes the new dawn of Asia.

Asia is an outward-looking region. Asia is a strong advocate of open regionalism as a vehicle for development and mutual prosperity. That is why Asia has for over the past decade been strengthening inter-regional linkages with Europe through the Asia-Europe Meeting or ASEM, and with the Pacific through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC, and within two years with Latin America through the Forum for East Asia and Latin America or FEALAC.

What Asia had been lacking was continent-wide cooperation. The premise for building Asia-wide cooperation is based on the multi-tiered dialogues and networks of sub-regional frameworks. Within Asia, there are stand-alone sub-regional cooperative frameworks. In Southeast Asia or ASEAN region, we are moving towards the realization of an ASEAN Community which comprise three pillars, namely security, economic, and socio-cultural. The ASEAN Leaders will this November adopt the Plan of Action in realizing our goal.

At the same time, the ASEAN Community is enhancing economic integration with its neighbouring sub-regions. Looking to East Asia, are China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea with whom ASEAN is striving for an East Asian economic community. Southeast Asia is also strengthening economic partnership with the neighbouring South Asia under such frameworks as ASEAN-SAARC and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation or BIMSTEC comprising five countries in South Asia and two from Southeast Asia. The linking of these sub-regional arrangements serves as building blocks for continent-wide cooperation.

Many people have said that Asian countries are too diverse to join hands together. Many have said that the realization of cooperation within the Asian continent was impossible. Some even questioned Asia’s ability to think. We proved them wrong. Initiated by the Prime Minister of Thailand in 2002, the Asia Cooperation Dialogue or ACD was established. This framework represents a new paradigm of cooperation. The ACD serves to fill in the missing linkages to intra-Asian cooperation. The twin main goal of the ACD is to make the maximum use of our diversity which is the basis of our strength, and for Asian nations to learn to live with diversity and be more tolerant of differences to strengthen cooperation. Propelled by positive thinking, leaving aside any bilateral conflicts, the ACD is intended to be an open, evolving, non-institutionalized, inclusive and constructive process for the first ever Asia-wide cooperation.

This means that Asia is moving towards regional integration. Some of our initiatives are drawn from Europe’s 50 years of experience. Asia is now going through what Europe had experienced in 1952 with the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community. What we hope to learn from Europe is its experience in bridging the development divide within its continent as it went through the stages of a customs union, a common market, monetary union and now political integration.

Now in its third year, the ACD comprises 25 participating countries from the north to the south and from the east to the west of the Asian continent with Thailand entrusted as coordinator. The enlargement process is still on-going. The ACD continues to make progress through annual ministerial dialogues and joint projects. There are as many as 18 areas of functional cooperation projects ranging from key issues of poverty eradication to SMEs, energy security to agriculture, and ICT to poverty alleviation. Whilst participation in these projects is on a voluntary basis, many ACD members are now spearheads or prime movers for these cooperation projects. Not all members must participate in all projects. Rather, the participation is based on each member’s comfort level, readiness and comparative advantage. They can join in at any time they deem ready. In this way, everyone has a sense of participation and willingness while no one feels isolated or left behind. Each of the 18 projects have between 10-15 participants. Altogether, these projects are creating a strong cooperation across Asia. This is how we recognize differences and how we build our strength based on diversity.

This cobweb of functional cooperation could be considered as an embryo of an Asian community. We are committed to pushing forward regional economic integration in Asia. We believe that a strong and a more prosperous Asia would make the continent a better trading and investment partner for the rest of the world. We envisage Asia’s economic dynamism will make this continent a pillar of global prosperity and sustainable development. The building of an Asian community forms an integral part in strengthening partnership with other regions for multilateralism to be effective.

Distinguished Guests,

The linkage between regionalism and competitiveness has generated discussions amongst many circles. In Asia, we believe that Asian countries can be competitive only if Asia as a region is competitive. Let me share with you how Asia is capitalizing on its diverse strengths by elaborating on the instruments adopted to benefit from the four key elements of globalization.

The first element is the free flow of people, businessmen, knowledge workers, professionals, and tourists. Asians are in search for and maintaining highly skilled workers. We are sharing our skills and knowledge in developing high-performance industries that enhances cutting-edge competitiveness and innovation. We are building business partnership and strategic alliances across Asia to gain competitive edge in the regional and global stage.

In the tourism sector, we are encouraging the flow through strengthening transportation networks by land, air and sea. East to west, north to south transportation corridor networks are being constructed where Thailand can serve as a regional transportation hub. Road linkages are stretching from Thailand northwards to southern China, westwards to the Indian sub-continent, and eastwards to the Vietnamese port of Danang on the South China Sea. Thailand also has one of the most progressive open sky policy in the region, both passenger and cargo. We are also planning to launch a Shengen type of visa with our neighbouring countries.

The second element is the free flow of goods and services. We are expanding trade among and within the Asian sub-regions through bilateral and regional trading arrangements. We hope to capitalize on our comparative advantage and resources of the region. A showcase is ASEAN’s cooperation with East Asian economies. We have established frameworks for comprehensive economic partnership or FTAs between ASEAN-China and ASEAN-Japan. Talks are on-going with the Republic of Korea. The successful conclusion of these economic partnerships would lay the foundation towards the formation of an East Asian free trade area, the largest in the world.

Another showcase of trade expansion between Asian sub-regions is the economic partnership between Southeast Asia and South Asia. These two Asian sub-regions are linked under the ASEAN-India Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation or FTA and also under the economic framework of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. The leaders of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand gave political impetus for the free trade arrangement among the seven countries, at their Summit meeting in Bangkok this past July.

On Thailand’s part, we have concluded bilateral and regional trade arrangements within Asia and the Pacific, namely Bahrain, India, China and Australia, with more free trade arrangements under negotiating process. We have launched Thai-US FTA negotiations, while the negotiation on Thailand and Japan Economic Partnership Agreement is well underway.

The third element is the free flow of finance. Asian international reserves account for over 75 percent of the total international reserves of all developing countries. But yet as experienced in the 1997 financial crisis, we were unable to mobilize our resources. We lacked the instruments through which we can utilize our savings to create enough of our own wealth. Due to under-development of our financial markets, our wealth had to be invested in the major financial markets beyond Asia and reinvested back in our region with a premium.

We are now moving forward with a sound and solid financial infrastructure. We are building the region’s financial architecture to prevent a repeat of the 1997 financial crisis. A key instrument is the development of an Asian bond market as initiated by my Prime Minister. The idea has gained increased region-wide support through the ACD process, and has been concretized with the creation of an Asian Bond Fund last year. We expect a second Fund to be established in local denominated currency. We are working on the second step regarding the supply side and the removal of impediments to bond trading across the region and beyond.

We believe such measures will not only benefit individual Asian countries, but also strengthen the region’s resilience and contribute to international financial stability. Not only are we encouraging Asians to invest in Asia, but we hope to provide an alternative source of investment for partners beyond Asia. The Leaders of Europe and Asia will discuss the linkage between the Asian Bond and Eurobond markets at the ASEM Leaders’ Meeting in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, next month.

The fourth element is access to the flow of information and technology in order to attain a knowledge-based economy in Asia. It is a knowledge-based economy that utilizes the power of the mind and stimulates creativity and new innovations beyond the old paradigm. New ideas and initiatives in key niche industries and technologies as bio-technology and nanotechnology will shift Asia to a new paradigm of competitive landscape.

However, in Asia, we must be conscience that knowledge has a diverse level of sophistication. Accessibility to global information and knowledge must be available from top to bottom of our society. We intend to ensure that each and every member of the society can move together and must not be left struggling behind. In Thailand, we are doing just that. We are enhancing local know-how, craftsmanship, and innovation of the grassroots economy to benefit from the global market.

We are guided by the philosophy of His Majesty the King of Thailand on “Sufficiency Economy” which seeks to promote sustainable development and a better quality of life through readily available resources. A successful programme is the One-Tambon or One-Village-One Product or OTOP. OTOP's guiding principles are to revive community pride while generating income and employment for the poor villagers. After three years of its implementation, last year, the sales of OTOP products reached 700 million US dollars. Incidentally, many OTOP villagers have increased their sales and found new local and international markets through the internet. The Government has been successful in introducing ICT to the grassroots in every sub-district. Villagers find ICT both relevant and useful in improving their quality of life, improving their income, improving their living and reducing poverty. With the introduction of internet sub-district system, people in each sub-district know what are being produced and by whom in different parts of the country and soon in different parts of the world. Accessibility to global information and knowledge must be available from the top to bottom of our society. We found great encouragement in the words of Secretary General of UNCTAD, Mr. Rubens Ricupero, who praised Thailand as a good example of a country that best uses ICT for development.

Distinguished Guests,

As Asia is positioning itself to benefit from globalization, we cannot turn away from addressing emerging crises. Last year, we were struck by the SARS epidemics and earlier this year by avian flu. In both cases, Asia responded promptly to containing the epidemics. Now, Asia as any other regional economy, is affected by rising oil prices. We are looking long-term and pursuing joint undertakings to replace our over-dependence on oil in order to sustain energy security. We are seeking new fuel alternatives to reduce the pressure on oil producers and to better conserve fossil fuel resources.

Last month, Thailand hosted the first ever Ministerial conference on bio-fuel in Asia. Participants also included non Asian Ministers from Germany and Brazil. The Ministers agreed to consider using existing technological know-how to transform agricultural produce into energy found in our respective countries. These crops include sugar cane, palm oil, and coconut which can be readily converted into bio-fuel for energy. We also identified the production of ethanol as alternative fuel.

We believe that the use of alternative fuel would benefit oil importing countries by reducing their over-dependence on crude oil. It would also benefit oil producers since the use of alternative fuels would slow down the depletion of oil reserves and to ensure more stability in the oil market.

Distinguished Guests,

The paradigm shift in Asia and the process of integration must go beyond economics. We are working together on the goal of fostering a sense of community building among our peoples. We have witnessed how diversity of culture, of actors, of interests, and of issues, can precipitate friction and hinder the process of integration. The international community must not only learn to live with and tolerate differences, we must seek partnership from diversity.

Asia is no exception. By enhancing dialogue and understanding through intellectual, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, Asia can contribute to the building of a sense of community amongst our peoples that would underpin regional integration in Asia. We are well aware that governments can come and go and the efforts for Asia some governments have made may go with them. But political parties can survive whatever governments. The sense of community building in Asia was therefore underlined by the International Conference of Asian Political Parties or ICAPP, the annual meeting of which was held just two weeks ago in Beijing with 85 political parties from all corners of Asia. This networking of Asian political parties complements and ensures continuity of efforts in building an Asian community that is people-centered.

Asia today is different from Asia during my years over 20 years ago here at Fletcher. The new paradigm of Asia today will make it even more different in the next two decades. The paradigm shift is ultimately to sow the seeds for peaceful co-existence and mutual prosperity for the people of Asia and for the better Asian community. A strong Asian community would make us a more meaningful partner for any multilateral efforts to bring the best benefits for mankind. The future of Asia is a stronger Asia for the benefit of Asia and the rest of the world.

Thank you.