Reasons Why ASEAN Should Integrate.

To Economically Compete with China and India.

Individually, no member state of ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations, even Indonesia, can compete with China or India, countries which have around a fifth of the world's population each. Foreign investors are drawn to the enormous market potential of China and India to the detriment of Southeast Asian nations, which are in essence overlooked. More investment brings more money with which to build more infrastructure which makes more jobs which those countries' large populations are eager to fill for low pay, which brings more investment which brings more money, etc. etc. Southeast Asia, with smaller markets and populations, is no longer part of this loop, and were unable to develop sufficiently enough in the 1980s and 1990s the way South Korea and Taiwan did to be capable of standing on their own feet without large amounts of foreign investment today.

However, if ASEAN became a fully integrated economic bloc (note, even the European Union has not attained this status yet), ASEAN would still be smaller than China and India, but would still have a much larger population than even Indonesia, with a combined population over 600 million for all ten states. The region would still straddle the strategic location between Northeast and South Asia, and the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Maritime trade from Europe, Africa, South and Southwestern Asia to Northeast Asia would travel through the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, and vice versa. The region would produce enough food for all of ASEAN. Thailand and Vietnam are major rice exporters, while the Philippines and Indonesia now import the staple. Although many ASEAN states are reluctant to eradicate tariffs between themselves, being of the opinion that their neighbors would be competitors and not allies, ASEAN as a fully-integrated bloc would be able to withstand Chinese, Indian, American, and European pressure, and would be able to distribute the economic growth of all member states of the association so that all members develop.

To Stand Their Ground Against Chinese or Indian Aggression.

The benefit of a unified ASEAN has already been shown in the dispute over ownership of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. China would have been able to pressure any of the Southeast Asian contenders for all or part of the island group. However, rather than deliberating with China on an individual basis, ASEAN was chosen to deal with China--and was able to force China into a less belligerent stance.

China and India are both nuclear powers with the two largest militaries in the world which also happen to be among the most powerful militaries on Earth, too. Traditionally and so far, Southeast Asian nations' habit is to be submissive to their giant neighbors and 'not make waves.'

Yet this may not be an option in some cases. Although Vietnam was able to repel a Chinese invasion, that was when China was much poorer than today. Together, a militarily unified ASEAN could defend its members, sandwiched as they are between China and India. Even indirectly, if China and India wage war with each other, they would be bound to either try to bend Southeast Asia into becoming allies, or would be more ruthless and just try to invade Southeast Asia and use it as a staging ground from which to attack their enemy (China or India). Southeast Asia doesn't have to be pushed around if they are big enough to withstand India or China.

To Engender Internal Peace.

One of ASEAN's original goals, a more unified and integrated ASEAN would be able to erase the idea that one Southeast Asian country would wage war with another Southeast Asian country. The Philippines and Malaysia have a dispute over Sabah. Malaysia and Singapore have a dispute over an islet. Several ASEAN states have disputes over the Spratly and Paracel Islands, along with China and Taiwan. For a completely integrated ASEAN, hostilities over these disputes would be as muted as border disputes between California and Nevada or Kentucky and Tennessee.

If some Muslims in Malaysia and Indonesia become radicalized, while they might be a major force in their own countries, for all of ASEAN, those Islamists would only be a minority.

A unified ASEAN could also lead to the end of the military junta in Burma, the Communist regimes in Vietnam and Laos, the autocracies in Singapore, Cambodia, Brunei, and Malaysia, and the corrupt democracies in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. The ASEAN government could draw from the good aspects of the members--such as the efficiency and order of Singapore and the democracy of Thailand--while excising the bad aspects of the current governments. The states could draw from their collective advantages and minimize their political shortcomings.

Conclusion

The member states of ASEAN have many obstacles to overcome. They are divided by history, religion, and culture. Many of them view the others as competitors rather than partners who can mutually help each other develop. Besides Singapore, there is a general lack of interest among most ASEAN state governments for strong integration of the association. However, for the sake of all Southeast Asia, a unified ASEAN is in the interest of all ten ASEAN states: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, and Cambodia. Divided they will all be much weaker than they would be united.

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History: The Roadmap to the Future.
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History: The Roadmap to the Future--Europe.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Latin America.

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The Science Fiction Channel + Technorium.
The Vegetarian Diaries + Biologeel.

Filipinos Are Asian--Get Used to It.

There seems to be a common misconception in the United States and Asia, and probably--to some extent--in the rest of the world, that Filipinos are not Asian, but are instead Pacific Islanders. Ironically, major proponents of this view are so-called Filipino Americans. That Filipinos are Asian should not even be an issue that is up for debate at all. This article will try to set some things straight.

Geography


The CIA World Factbook locates the Republic of the Philippines as being in "Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam." The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the Philippines as, "country E Asia comprising the Philippine Islands; a republic; once a Spanish possession & (1898–1946) a United States possession capital Manila." The archipelago comprising the Philippines is indisputably a part of Asia. Insular Southeast Asia, to be specific. If you don't believe the map provided here, then look at a world map or a globe. The Philippines' direct northern neighbor is Taiwan, with Japan (via the Ryukyus) just a little off to the northeast. China (mainland) is to the northwest. Those are not only considered Asian, but Northeast Asian. Malaysia is to the southeast. And the Moluccas (part of Indonesia) is to Mindanao's south. The Philippines is on the eastern edge of the South China Sea, the same as with Taiwan, insular Malaysia, and Brunei. Yes, the Philippines is located on islands in the Pacific Ocean. Taiwan is an island in the Pacific Ocean. Japan is located on islands in the Pacific Ocean. Korea and China both have islands in the Pacific Ocean. And the bulk of the Southeast Asian population lives on islands in the Pacific Ocean. Yet these countries' peoples are not Pacific Islanders. Nor are the Philippines' people. Filipinos are not Pacific Islanders. From a geographic standpoint, you cannot argue that the Philippines is not a part of Asia.

Ethnicity
The typical Filipino is of the Malay ethnicity, the same as Malaysians, Indonesians, and people in Brunei. Genetically, Filipinos of Luzon (the largest and most populous island in the Philippines) have a genetic affinity with native peoples of Taiwan. In addition to the Malay majority, there are Aeta (who are Melanesoid--which is not the same as Australoid), Chinese, and European minorities.

Filipino culture is easily the most Western of all 'Eastern' countries. However, Filipinos still retain much of their pre-Spanish culture, notably the languages, ranging from Tagalog to Cebuano to Ingorot, which are closely related to languages on the island of Borneo. The Filipino cuisine, while having considerable Malay traits, is heavily Chinese influenced, for instance, lumpia. The copious use of sugar, plantains, and coconut milk in recipes ties the food of the Philippines to both mainland and insular Southeast Asia.

Now, it is the case that Philippine languages are part of the Austronesian (not be confused with Australian/Australoid) language family, which is spoken from Taiwan to Indonesia to Vietnam and Thailand to Madagascar to Hawaii. A few researchers consider Japanese, Korean, the Austro-Asiatic (Southeast Asian), Thai-Kadai, or even Sino-Tibetan languages to be related to Austronesian, either as individuals, or as a great, East Asian language family. However, the spread of this language family (and civilization) was from Asia (particularly Taiwan) to Polynesia (and Africa in the case of Madagascar), not the other way around. Saying that Filipinos are Pacific Islanders is (although the time frame is wider) akin to saying that Northeast Asians are Amerindians; you could argue that Amerindians are Northeast Asians (a stretch), but not the other way around. To use a shorter time frame, saying that Filipinos are Pacific Islanders is akin to stating that Europeans are pan-Americans, or even mestizos, depending on whether or not Polynesians have Melanesian genes; Europeans are not from the Americas, but many pan-Americans can trace their lineage to Europe. Filipinos are not from the Pacific Islands, but many Pacific Islanders can trace their lineage to (what is now) the Philippines.

Ethnically, the Filipinos are Asian.

History

Historically, the case for Filipinos being Asian is strong. The Philippines are considered to have first been settled by the ancestors of the Aetas, who came from Southeast Asia (the Aeta bear similarities to the Orang Asli of the Malay Peninsula--on mainland Asia). The bulk of the population is descended from immigrants from Taiwan, the original Austronesians, the preponderance of whom have now become to be referred to as 'Malay.' (Other Austronesian groups include the natives of Taiwan, the Cham of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, and peoples on China's Hainan Island). The ancestors of the Malay Filipinos arrived a few millennia ago, and brought with them rice cultivation and domesticated pigs, dogs, and chickens.

What is now the Philippines was part of an ancient Southeast Asian trade network in jade from Taiwan being distributed to lands in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. The advent of bronze in the Philippines (around 500BC) and the beginning of the Philippine Iron Age (around 200BC) are considered to have occurred due to contact and trade with Southeast Asia--the short time frame between the smelting of bronze and iron suggests this, along with tin--required for bronze--not being found in large quantities in the Philippines. 200BC is also when some believe first Philippine contact with Indians (from India) was achieved, and trade started. AD900 is the date of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription. The writing is written in Kavi, a Javanese (Indonesian) script, which traces it lineage to Indic writing systems. Personally question the authenticity of this artifact. If genuine, then technically Philippine history would begin in AD900 (history begins when there are written records). However, when the Spanish arrived, only Tagalogs were using writing, and that writing was Baybayin (also referred to as alibata), a writing system that was not as efficient at writing down Tagalog as Kavi. Baybayin is considered to have come into existence around AD1200 at the earliest. If the artifact is authentic, then why wasn't writing more widespread when the Spaniards arrived, and why was the writing system not based directly on Kavi and capable of accurately expressing spoken Tagalog in written form?

Anyway, the first Chinese records of Filipinos (from Luzon, or Luzones) are dated to around this time, and the first written Chinese records of the Philippines a bit afterwards. By the advent of the Spanish, Sino-Philippine trade was such that the Philippines were flooded with Chinese porcelain and the Filipinos were no longer mining their own iron ore (though they still smelted and fashioned it). A note about the bad points of globalization: the Philippine pottery industry was retarded because local artisans couldn't compete with cheaper but more sophisticated Chinese ware, and importing old iron instruments or raw iron ore from China was cheaper than mining the stuff in the Philippines. Also, when the Spaniards arrived, the Philippines was in trade contact with Japan.

The Philippines traded with other Asian states and peoples since antiquity, during foreign, Western rule, and still trade with other Asian nations today.

Conclusion

Above, it has been shown that from a geographic, ethnic, and historic point of view, the Philippines and Filipinos are clearly Asian. That is not up for questioning. It is just a fact. Just as much as Chinese, Japanese, or Vietnamese, Filipinos are Asian.

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History: The Roadmap to the Future--Europe.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Latin America.

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Mr. Hu's Neighborhood. (Third Part)

In the two preceding articles, the point was made that China's rise is being viewed as a challenge and a threat by the other nations of East Asia. Now will be discussed Asian states which are already under China's thrall or are setting themselves up for it, along with the conclusion to the series.

East Asian countries currently more-or-less free from China's influence are watching their giant neighbor closely for signs of a more belligerent Beijing. And as the Chinese economy expands, China does seem to be taking on a more militant and commanding tone toward its neighbors. But what about states already greatly influenced and dependent on Chinese support, notably North Korea and Burma. The Soviet Union had East Germany and Poland. Communist China has North Korea and Burma.

North Korea is almost completely dependent on China for its survival. Even with Beijing propping it up, the Hermit Kingdom is on the verge of destitution. While North Korea has nuclear weapons--sort of, their attempt did not fully explode--it people are starving to death. The 'Dear Leader' has already ticked off China quite a bit, bringing the United States to look even closer at the region, and pressuring the country to increase an American military--and diplomatic--presence in East Asia. If China becomes too fed up and the current North Korean President dies, China could ignore Kim's successor and just invade North Korea, potentially strongarming Kim into bequeathing his country to China on his deathbed--or say that was the case. As is, North Korea is already currently a de facto Chinese protectorate.

The other country, Burma, is less under the thumb of China, in part due to its alternative options of trading with India and its fellow ASEAN states, in part due to its rich endowment of natural resources such as gems and luxury timber. Still, the Communist government in Beijing exerts considerable influence on the Burmese military junta. China could have forced the junta into letting in foreign aid after Cyclone Nargis devastated southern Burma, particularly the Delta region, but didn't. It's in China's interest to have a weak Burmese protectorate.

Which leads to ASEAN. The members of the Association of South East Asian Nations are set to form a free trade agreement with China. This will be a debacle for the comparatively small states in ASEAN. They will be flooded with far more cheap Chinese products which will out-compete their native industries, while the agreement will not bring in all that much Chinese foreign investment.

Now, if ASEAN actually worked as a solid unit, functioning as one, ASEAN could benefit from such an FTA with China. ASEAN could rival China. The Association has less people, but is strategically located to take advantage of trade with both China and India, while resource rich Australia is ASEAN's southern neighbor.

But the members of ASEAN don't follow a policy of solidarity. Each member looks out for itself, often to the detriment of the other member states. Pity for them; they will be picked off--at least economically, if not economically and militarily--one by one. As a group, they could challenge China. As individuals they could be crushed by China.

Conclusion

China's neighbors in Northeast and Southeast Asia are wise to closely monitor China and try to either guide its development to a peaceful end, or try to inhibit China's advancement. Japan is advanced and powerful, and has powerful friends (the United States and the EU), but will have to work hard to keep China in check. Small nations have to prepare for the Chinese dragon to snap at them. ASEAN ought to capitalize on their supposed unity and work as one. And ASEAN makes the most poignant point:

If China's neighbors want to keep their 'big brother' in line, they will have to work together, from Japan to Indonesia, from Mongolia to Burma, and work as one to make themselves into a 'bigger brother' that can confront China should the need arise. If they don't they all can look forward to an East Asia ruled from Beijing.



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History: The Roadmap to the Future.
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History: The Roadmap to the Future--Asia.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Europe.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Latin America.

Or:
The Science Fiction Channel + Technorium.
The Vegetarian Diaries + Biologeel.