East Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America.

• Position: Documentos

Exposición realizada por el profesor Manfred Wilhelmy *, en la XVI Reunión General (PECC XVI) en Seúl, el 6 de septiembre de 2005

In the past, Latin American relations with East Asia did not develop much, due to a number of factors on both sides. The regions' respective external orientations (political, economic, and cultural) were mutually exclusive; in Asia and elsewhere, Latin America was long perceived to be a > of the United States: in some cases, countries gravitated towards Britain's > empire; Asian immigration in Latin America, with few exceptions, was comparatively small; the so-called > increased transaction costs; and, last but not least, the Cold War > regions and countries which could not afford to engage in innovative diplomatic initiatives.

The contemporary Latin American perspective on the Pacific Community is based on the assumption that East Asia, North America, and the EU are the three central poles of global development. Within this context, Latin America is a region that benefits from maximizing exposure to dynamic international partners in trade, finance, technology, and various dimensions of cooperation.

For Latín America, East Asia is the newest, and the most promising, of these partners. While our traditional relations with the US and the EU will continue to be important, getting closer to East Asia vía the Pacific to become associated with the dynamism of the region is a crucial aspect of post-Cold War economic and political diplomacy. This includes our growing interest in developing links with Australia and New Zealand.

APEC is the main forum for East Asian-Latin American interaction focussing on economic cooperation. However, Latin American participation in APEC is limited to the Pacific Rim economies in our region, today Mexico, Perú and Chile, in the future perhaps to be joined by Colombia, Ecuador and Panamá. This leaves out economies such as Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and others, that share an interest in developing links with East Asia. This is a limitation of Pacific networks as the vehicle for interregional relations.

Following the model of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) network, the Forum for East Asian-Latin American Cooperation (FEALAC) was launched some years ago. In this grouping both regions ate duly represented, but we must be candid to admit that FEALAC is still a modest undertaking, defined by Ministers as a forum to complement other engagements of their members. Further developing and upgrading...