Showtime for Southeast Asia: An economic and political crossroads

In the ASEAN region, booming exports and imports, and rapidly rising per capita incomes, have brought new challenges to trade policy. ASEAN is promoting its own “free trade area”; the United States backs the much wider and all-inclusive APEC format; and Malaysia urges a “caucus” restricted ethnically and racially to East Asians. The result is a genuine trade debate, along lines familiar in the already-industrialized nations. If ASEAN follows genuine openness there are considerable opportunities, but if it takes the timeworn paths of protectionism, restrictions on investment, and excessive sensitivity to fears of “foreign manipulation,” the future is liable to be less bright.