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ASEAN Summit: Is India serious about regional trade pact?

Agencies
November 19, 2018

Singapore, Nov 19: If you were here in Singapore for the first time on a brief visit last week, you could be excused for wondering if it's normal for thousands of police officers to be patrolling the streets and for scores of Special Operations Command and other police vehicles to be parked all over the city. You may also be wondering if traffic is always really this bad.

Actually, no. Singapore is typically very safe and the police is usually not seen much. Neither will you hear sirens piercing the air every few minutes like in some other cities. And it's uncommon for traffic jams to occur.

Last week, besides the leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries, some of world's top leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese Premier Li Keiqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and United States Vice President Mike Pence were in Singapore for the ASEAN Summit. Hence, the stepped-up security.

The world leaders who came, see this as a fantastic and convenient opportunity to meet at the sidelines of the summit to discuss bilateral issues especially ahead of the APEC Summit which takes place in Papua New Guinea immediately after the ASEAN conference. For example, President Putin met with Japan PM Abe as well as Vice President Pence. President Putin's attendance also allowed him to project Russia's desire to be a global influencer and show their willingness to engage with the region especially in economic matters.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is a regional intergovernmental organisation made up of 10 countries to promote and facilitate cooperation mainly in trade but also in security matters, education and culture integration and exchange. Meetings at various levels are held regularly with its secretariat located in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Together, ASEAN forms a market of US$2.6 trillion with a population of 622 million people. It is collectively the third largest economy in Asia after China and Japan and seventh largest in the world.

At the moment, the over-arching economic objective for the group is to achieve full economic integration by way of a single market fully connected with the global economy by 2025. Called the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), it is a free trade zone copying the European Union model loosely.

In his opening address as Chairman of ASEAN, a title and responsibility which rotates among the countries every year, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: "The international order is at a turning point. The existing free, open and rules-based multilateral system which has underpinned ASEAN's growth and stability, has come under stress. Countries, including major powers, are resorting to unilateral actions and bilateral deals, and even explicitly repudiating multilateral approaches and institutions."

Unsurprisingly, global trade uncertainties was one of the key subjects discussed at the summit.

However, the main economic topic on the agenda was the Regional Economic Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP). Other than the ASEAN countries, this agreement brings together China, Japan South Korea and, also Australia, New Zealand and India.

If completed, the RCEP will be the largest such trade agreement since the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which was implemented in 1948. It will encompass 25 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) of US$25 trillion, 45 per cent of the total population, 30 per cent of global income and 30 per cent of global trade. Many were expecting it to be wrapped up this year but at the summit it was announced that it will be delayed till 2019. Leaders at the summit, however, were quick to emphasise that negotiations are at its final stage.

The pact is seen as vital in securing the region's continued prosperity, especially after a trade war broke out between its vital trading partners, US and China.

Although Prime Minister Modi urged an early conclusion to RCEP talks, it is not clear at this stage what level of commitment India has in participating. The RCEP is a traditional trade pact which cuts tariffs on tradable goods whereas India's strength is in the services sector. India is believed to be holding up for better market access for its professionals and to the services sector than is currently offered.

India also complained that imports to India from ASEAN has grown faster than Indian exports to the bloc. New Delhi is reluctant to cut tariffs and open its markets in the face of strong opposition from its farming as well as steel and textiles industries. The dilemma facing India is exacerbated by the fact that strategic rival China is part of the agreement although China is an important trading partner as well.

On the other hand, ASEAN nations are increasingly investing in India, including in ports, highways, townships and food processing. It was noted at the summit that with the Modi government improving ease of doing business, investment and trade with ASEAN has grown. Despite good progress being made on the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway with an extension to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, ASEAN has called for better maritime, air, land and digital connectivity between ASEAN and India.

With the Indian general elections expected next year, the RCEP negotiations come at a sensitive time for PM Modi.

India is the sixth largest trading partner of ASEAN having signed the India-ASEAN FTA (free trade agreement) in 2010 and bilateral trade is valued at US$80 billion but this is seen by economists as far short of its true potential.

PM Lee of Singapore urged India to be part of RCEP saying: "Together with the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area, we hope that this will help us reach the ASEAN-India trade target of US$200 billion in total trade by 2022."

If India can address its national interests through the on-going talks, the RCEP is a promising vehicle that can help a reluctant India which traditionally shies away from trade pacts, expands its markets through incorporation into a truly open trading bloc.

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News Network
April 24,2020

Washington, Apr 24: The number of coronavirus cases in the US has surpassed 850,000, Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center data revealed on Thursday (local time).
The country now has registered 8,56,209 cases overall, according to the data, including 47,272 deaths.

The US currently leads the world in the number of reported COVID-19 deaths and confirmed cases.

There are more than 2.6 million COVID-19 cases around the world and more than 1,85,000 deaths, according to the data.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Russia boasts that it's about to become the first country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine, with mass vaccinations planned as early as October using shots that are yet to complete clinical trials -- and scientists worldwide are sounding the alarm that the headlong rush could backfire.

Moscow sees a Sputnik-like propaganda victory, recalling the Soviet Union's launch of the world's first satellite in 1957.

But the experimental Covid-19 shots began first-in-human testing on a few dozen people less than two months ago, and there's no published scientific evidence yet backing Russia's late entry to the global vaccine race, much less explaining why it should be considered a front-runner.

“I'm worried that Russia is cutting corners so that the vaccine that will come out may be not just ineffective, but also unsafe,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global public health law expert at Georgetown University. “It doesn't work that way... Trials come first. That's really important.”

According to Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's Direct Investment Fund that bankrolled the effort, a vaccine developed by the Gamaleya research institute in Moscow may be approved in days, before scientists complete what's called a Phase 3 study.

That final-stage study, usually involving tens of thousands of people, is the only way to prove if an experimental vaccine is safe and really works.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said members of “risk groups,” such as medical workers, may be offered the vaccine this month.

He didn't clarify whether they would be part of the Phase 3 study that is said to be completed after the vaccine receives “conditional approval.”

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova promised to start “industrial production” in September, and Murashko said mass vaccination may begin as early as October.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease specialist, questioned the fast-track approach last week.

“I do hope that the Chinese and the Russians are actually testing a vaccine before they are administering the vaccine to anyone, because claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing I think is problematic at best," he said.

Questions about this vaccine candidate come after the US, Britain and Canada last month accused Russia of using hackers to steal vaccine research from Western labs.

Delivering a vaccine first is a matter of national prestige for the Kremlin as it tries to assert the image of Russia as a global power capable of competing with the US and China.

The notion of being “the first in the world” dominated state news coverage of the effort, with government officials praising reports of the first-step testing.

In April, President Vladimir Putin ordered state officials to shorten the time of clinical trials for a variety of drugs, including potential coronavirus vaccines.

According to Russia's Association of Clinical Trials Organizations, the order set “an unattainable bar” for scientists who, as a result, "joined in on the mad race, hoping to please those at power.”

The association first raised concern in late May, when professor Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya institute, said he and other researchers tried the vaccine on themselves.

The move was a “crude violation of the very foundations of clinical research, Russian law and universally accepted international regulations" the group said in an open letter to the government, urging scientists and health officials to adhere to clinical research standards.

But a month later, the Health Ministry authorized clinical trials of the Gamaleya product, with what appeared to be another ethical issue.

Human studies started June 17 among 76 volunteers. Half were injected with a vaccine in liquid form and the other half with a vaccine that came as soluble powder.

Some in the first half were recruited from the military, which raised concerns that servicemen may have been pressured to participate.

Some experts said their desire to perform well would affect the findings. “It's no coincidence media reports we see about the trials among the military said no one had any side effects, while the (other group) reported some," said Vasily Vlassov, a public health expert with Moscow's Higher School of Economics.

As the trials were declared completed and looming regulatory approval was announced last week, questions arose about the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.

Government assurances the drug produced the desired immune response and caused no significant side effects were hardly convincing without published scientific data describing the findings.

The World Health Organization said all vaccine candidates should go through full stages of testing before being rolled out.

“There are established practices and there are guidelines out,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said Tuesday.

“Between finding or having a clue of maybe having a vaccine that works, and having gone through all the stages, is a big difference.”

Offering an unsafe compound to medical workers on the front lines of the outbreak could make things worse, Georgetown's Gostin said, adding: “What if the vaccine started killing them or making them very ill?”

Vaccines that are not properly tested can cause harm in many ways — from a negative impact on health to creating a false sense of security or undermining trust in vaccinations, said Thomas Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations. 

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News Network
April 8,2020

Washington, Apr 8: President Donald Trump has threatened to put a "very powerful" hold on US' funding to the World Health Organization, accusing the UN agency of being "very China centric" and criticising it for having "missed the call" in its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump slammed the global health agency for its early guidance aimed at countering the international spread of the coronavirus.

"We're going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO. We're going to put a very powerful hold on it and we're going to see. It's a great thing if it works. But when they call every shot wrong, that's no good," Trump told reporters at his daily White House news conference on Tuesday.

The Geneva-headquartered World Health Organization (WHO), receives vast amounts of money from the United States.

"We pay for a majority or the biggest portion of their money. They actually criticized and disagreed with my travel ban at the time I did it. They were wrong. They've been wrong about a lot of things. They had a lot of information early and they didn't want to - they're very - they seem to be very China centric," Trump said.

The president said his administration was going to look into the US funding to the WHO.

"We give a majority of the money that they get, and it's much more than the USD 58 million. USD 58 million is a small portion of what they've got over the years. Sometimes they get much more than that. Sometimes it's for programs that they're doing, and-it's much bigger numbers. If the programmes are good, that's great as far as we're concerned," he said.

"But we want to look into it, WHO, because they called it wrong. They (WHO) called it wrong. They missed the call. They could've called it months earlier. They would have known and they should have known and they probably did know. So, we'll be looking into that very carefully, and we're going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO," Trump said.

Meanwhile, Senator Jim Risch, chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for an independent investigation into the WHO's handling of the COVID-19 response.

"The WHO has failed not only the American people, it has failed the world with its flagrant mishandling of the response to COVID-19," said Risch.

WHO Director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' apparent unwillingness to hold the Chinese Communist Party to even the minimum standard of global health and transparency hindered the world's ability to blunt the spread of this pandemic, he said.

"It is completely unacceptable that the world's global health organization has become a political puppet of the Chinese government," he alleged, adding that "an independent investigation into the WHO's handling of the COVID-19 response is imperative."

The United States is the largest contributor to the WHO.

"Our valuable tax payer dollars should go towards investments to prevent the spread of disease, not to aid and abet cover-ups that cost lives and isolate portions of the world's population on political grounds, as has been the case with Taiwan," Senator Risch said.

A bipartisan group of nearly two dozen lawmakers announced Tuesday to introduce a resolution to defund the WHO until Ghebreyesus resigns and an international commission investigates the organisation's role in covering up the Chinese Communist Party's failed COVID-19 response.

"The WHO helped the Chinese Communist Party hide the threat of COVID-19 from the world and now more than 10,000 Americans are dead, a number that is expected to rise dramatically in the coming weeks," Congressman Guy Reschenthaler alleged.

"The United States is the largest contributor to WHO. It is not right that Americans' hard-earned tax dollars are being used to propagate China's lies and hide information that could have saved lives. This bill will hold the WHO accountable for their negligence and deceit," he asserted.

The United States' intelligence community has reported that the Chinese government hid the threat of COVID-19 and, as a result, made it difficult for the rest of the world to respond early, appropriately and aggressively, said Congressman Fred Keller.

"For reasons beyond understanding, the WHO acted as a silent partner in this effort instead of protecting the lives of millions across the world, including hundreds of thousands of American citizens. Our hard-earned tax dollars should not go to a global organization more concerned with not offending the Chinese government than providing accurate information and protecting innocent lives," Keller said.

Senator Marco Rubio accused the Chinese Communist Party of using WHO "to mislead the world."

"The organisation's leadership is either complicit or dangerously incompetent. I will work with the Trump Administration to ensure that WHO is independent and has not been compromised by the CCP before we continue our current funding, he added.

According to Johns Hopkins University, there are over 1.43 million confirmed coronavirus cases across the world and over 82,000 people have died due to the disease. The US has nearly 400,000 infections, the highest in the world.

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