14 - Summary of New Zealand-ASEAN Relations

Summary

John Austin summed up a few important themes in his concluding session of the Southeast Asia-New Zealand Dialogue.

He started off emphasizing East Asia's economic growth as being unprecedented. It is changing the world and New Zealand needed to be on board in order not to face irrelevance.

The second theme that Dr Austin put across was the changing nature of relationships that globalization has brought about. New Zealand and Southeast Asia share a history of common enemies and being part of the British Empire. However, this relationship is slowly being replaced by market dominance, economies of scale and strategic trade alliances with defence relationships still being close and in operation.

New Zealand is perceived from the Asian perspective as being isolated and having a small economy based on agriculture, tourism and education. New Zealanders view themselves as being niche players, innovative, creative, working and leading hi-tech industries in such areas as film, designer foods, biomedical and information technology. They are reputed to be reliable partners, who come detached without any political baggage.

Summarizing the day's key points, Dr Austin said New Zealand was in transition towards becoming a more Asian- oriented society. Although New Zealand and ASEAN offer highly complimentary products and services, New Zealand's trade with ASEAN countries had nevertheless stalled and was relatively small compared to its overall trade flows with other regions of the world. This was surprising as ASEAN trade flows with New Zealand's neighbour, Australia, occupy top positions. To rectify this problem, Sir Dryden Smith highlighted the importance of trade reform, free trade and the regional trade agreements. Dr Chin Kin Wah and Professor Gary Hawke held similar views. Professor Tongzon suggested that new forms of strategic corporate alliances that could be formed.

The third session on ASEAN integration and towards an East Asian Community stressed the importance of the East Asia Summit in building a new regional architecture to help in trade.