Post U.S. world born in Phnom Penh

[sc281]

Obama tried hard to get us involved in this just before the election but blew it BIG time. Now we are in the "also ran' column:

I'm saving all i can at the moment so I can get out of this rat race. We are in for a rough ride here in the states in the intermediate future.


" Post-US world born in Phnom Penh
By Spengler

It is symptomatic of the national condition of the United States that the worst humiliation ever suffered by it as a nation, and by a US president personally, passed almost without comment last week. I refer to the November 20 announcement at a summit meeting in Phnom Penh that 15 Asian nations, comprising half the world's population, would form a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership excluding the United States. "


Complete Article

[68RR]

Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere reborn....

[Snatch Napkin]

What kind of a fucking idiot would expect the countries that import from China to drop China and rely on us?
Their business sense is atrocious.

Meanwhile, Romney went back to work for Marriot where he can make all that greedy money and the slackers that make up the majority will never understand why a business man is needed to run our country, not a community coordinator.

[DON SVO]

What kind of a fucking idiot would expect the countries that import from China to drop China and rely on us?
Their business sense is atrocious.

Meanwhile, Romney went back to work for Marriot where he can make all that greedy money and the slackers that make up the majority will never understand why a business man is needed to run our country, not a community coordinator.

Hey hey hey... I know I'd rather have my Boy Scout Troop leader running this show!

[BERNIE MOSFET]

I'm not certain that I trust this article entirely; the United States is a signatory of the declaration. Items #2 (via APEC) and #10 include the United States. The article says the United States is excluded. Our lack of inclusion is not lost on me, but we aren't excluded in the sense this article conveys.

The text of the Phnom Penh Declaration on the East Asia Summit Development Initiative is posted on the ASEAN website:

WE, the Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, People's Republic of China, Republic of India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russian Federation,and United States of America, on the occasion of the 7th East Asia Summit (EAS) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 20 November 2012;

RECALLING the 2005 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the East Asia Summit, the 2010 Ha Noi Declaration on the Commemoration of the 5th Anniversary of the East Asia Summit, and the 2011 Declaration of the East Asia Summit on the Principles for Mutually Beneficial Relations, and reaffirming their importance in setting the broad vision, principles, objectives, and modalities of the EAS;

EMPHASISING the principles of the EAS as a leaders-led forum for dialogue and cooperation on broad strategic, political and economic issues of common interest and concern with the aim of promoting peace, stability, economic prosperity and integration in East Asia;

RECOGNISING that EAS has 18 participating countries, including both developed countries, and emerging economies and developing countries, that should leverage their respective strengths to carry out North-South Cooperation and South-South Cooperation;

REAFFIRMING the importance of ASEAN Centrality and ASEAN as the driving force within the EAS, working in close partnership with the other participating countries of the EAS;

REITERATING that the EAS is an integral part of the evolving regional architecture in this region;

REITERATING ALSO the need to further enhance EAS cooperation in keeping with the principles of equality, partnership, consultation, and mutual respect among EAS participating countries;

AFFIRMING our commitment to leverage our respective strengths to enhance cooperation in the priority areas of the EAS, namely energy, education, finance, global health issues including pandemic diseases, environment and disaster mitigation, and ASEAN Connectivity; and

RECOGNISING the development challenges in East Asia, the challenges for the global economy, including the impact of the European sovereign debt crisis and downward pressures as well as numerous other challenges to the growth and development of EAS participating countries.

HEREBY DECIDE TO:

1. Support ASEAN as the driving force in the EAS and its centrality in other related regional mechanisms in close partnership with other participating countries and assist ASEAN’s efforts to narrow the development gaps in the region and establish the ASEAN Community by 2015;

2. Mobilise the strengths of various regional cooperation mechanisms such as ASEAN Plus One, ASEAN Plus Three, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and the EAS, and strengthen coordination among these mechanisms, with the aim of driving regional economic growth, facilitating trade and investment, accelerating regional economic integration, and achieving common prosperity which will enhance security and stability in the region;

(...)

10. Support the implementation of the initiatives and action plans on energy cooperation undertaken under the ASEAN framework, and between ASEAN and Dialogue Partners, such as the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2010-2015, the work plans of energy cooperation between ASEAN and China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, European Union, Russian Federation, the United States, the EAS energy cooperation work plan and the East Asia Low Carbon Growth Partnership Initiative, in enhancing energy security and sustainable development, particularly in the formulation and implementation of low carbon growth policies;

(...)

Adopted in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on the Twentieth Day of November in the Year Two Thousand and Twelve.

For what it's worth, the Obama Administration's version of the 7th EAS outcome is notably quiet about trade: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-...ummit-outcomes

Summary:

Fact Sheet: East Asia Summit Outcomes

President Obama attended the East Asia Summit (EAS) on November 20 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as part of the Administration’s continued focus on rebalancing its engagement in Asia to reflect the economic and strategic importance of this dynamic region. As an Asia-Pacific power the United States’ economic and security future is inextricably linked to the region, and President Obama used the summit to explore with other Asia-Pacific leaders ways to enhance cooperation on the region’s most pressing challenges, including energy, maritime security, non-proliferation, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response. The President made clear that full and active U.S. engagement in the region’s multilateral architecture helps to reinforce the system of rules, norms, and responsibilities, including respect for universal human rights and fundamental freedoms, that are essential to regional peace, stability, and prosperity.

The EAS is the region’s premier forum for Asia-Pacific leaders to discuss pressing political and strategic issues. The EAS was launched in 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, bringing together leaders of the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and six other Asia-Pacific region countries. With the participation of the United States and Russia for the first time in 2011, the EAS now includes all the major regional powers, including U.S. treaty allies Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Thailand, and the Philippines, as well as India and China.

(...)

This article gives less of a chicken-little perspective of what went on in Cambodia, albeit the overall tone praises Obama - so take your cues on bias. I wish it were easy to find uneditorialized articles, but it is not: http://csis.org/publication/asean-an...elds-big-stick

The ASEAN and East Asia Summits: U.S. Walks Softly While China Wields a Big Stick

By Ernest Z. Bower
NOV 21, 2012

President Barack Obama led a highly effective visit November 18–20 to Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia, where he attended the fourth ASEAN-U.S. Leaders’ Meeting and the seventh East Asia Summit. The robust U.S. presence and relatively disciplined and quiet diplomacy looked strong relative to China’s heavy-handed pressure to convince the ASEAN chair, Cambodia, to again break up the grouping’s unity over the South China Sea dispute. In the end, the United States looked engaged and thoughtful, with the exception of its trade policy, and China won a Pyrrhic victory that dangerously undermined its ability to play a natural leadership role in regional organizations.
Courageous Visits Pay Dividends

President Obama used his reelection momentum to take on critics and courageously go where no sitting U.S. president had tread before, literally. After visiting Thailand, home of the oldest U.S. alliance in Asia, he made historic visits to Myanmar and Cambodia. His three-country visit was the first by a U.S. president focused solely on Southeast Asia.

Obama looked like a leader, building on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s earlier visit to Bangkok. He reached out to the king, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and the people of Thailand to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to its long and special relationship. Panetta visited just three days earlier to reset and modernize the trajectory of the U.S.-Thailand alliance, which had languished a bit since the military coup in 2006. President Obama took that security-based message and balanced it by emphasizing trade—welcoming Prime Minister Yingluck’s interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement—and people-to-people ties.

(...)

The other major trade event in Phnom Penh was the launch of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which had to be scheduled after the official summits to give the only two EAS members who are not part of that agreement, the United States and Russia, time to bundle their leaders onto planes to avoid being excluded while the rest of the region kicked off a 16-member trade opening initiative that includes 3 billion people, nearly $20 trillion in GDP, and the world’s youngest and fastest growing markets.

In answer, the United States, which is allergic to stating a goal of a launching a U.S.-ASEAN free trade agreement (FTA), announced a U.S.-ASEAN Enhanced Economic Engagement (E3) Initiative. The E3 concept is solid and effectively prepares the non-TPP members of ASEAN to build capacity to be able to make a decision to join the agreement eventually, but it lacks the creativity and courage to set a vision for an FTA.

(...)


© 2012 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved.

[BERNIE MOSFET]

I'd been curious if Spengler confused the RCEP approved in the 2011 19th ASEAN Summit. This 2011 RCEP is confined to ASEAN member nations, only. In the 2012 Phnom Penh Declaration, Item #7 specifically mentions the RCEP - but the RCEP that includes China is not a thing, yet, so I don't know which RCEP it is referring to.

Apparently there was an announcement that the Chinese-favored RCEP will be a thing, and would begin negotiations. I got this mixed up with the Declaration, itself, so we are excluded from the RCEP in the sense that the article conveys, although I still question whether it is so deleterious an event.




Other articles regarding the RCEP:

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/11/28/will-rcep-compete-with-the-tpp/

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/southeast-asian-nations-plan-trade-bloc-to-rival-us/articleshow/17318914.cms

http://globaleconomicgovernance2012.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/china-strikes-back-the-rise-of-the-regional-comprehensive-economic-partnership/

http://www.thegeotradeblog.com/2012/11/a-new-regional-comprehensive-economic.html

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/TPP-vs-RCEP-A-new-Washington-Beijing-tug-of-war-30195647.html

[Slowhand]

We're not included an Asian trade-zone agreement? Damn, hard to imagine given our location in the heart of the Asian region!

[slow99]

We're not included an Asian trade-zone agreement? Damn, hard to imagine given our location in the heart of the Asian region!

Retaliation for being left out of NAFTA.

[jayjohnson600]

Penultimate goal: European Union, North American Union, Asian Union.

"Get in where you fit in."