Asia-Pacific Diplomacy: Non-Governmental Approach to Regional Economic Co-Operation

271 Pages·1993·16.035 MB·English

by  Lawrence Woods

Asia-Pacific Diplomacy
The emergence of Asia-Pacific regionalism represents one of the major trends in
late twentieth-century geopolitics and international relations. What are the
origins of this regional impetus? Who has led the way? How have they oper-
ated? How successful have they been? In Asia-Pacific Diplomacy, Lawrence
Woods traces the evolution of the Pacific economic cooperation movement by
examining the diplomatic contributions of a trio of international nongovern-
mental organizations (INGOs): the scholarly Pacific Trade and Development
Conference (PAFTAD, 1068- ); the business-oriented Pacific Basin Economic
Council (PBEC, 1968- ); and the multipartite (predominantly academic, busi-
ness, and government) Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC, 1980-).
In addition, he provides an innovative historical perspective of an earlier INGO,
the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR, 1925-61), the often overlooked forerunner
of the three INGOs which are the focus of this study.
Asia-Pacific Diplomacy provides the first in-depth examination of the origins,
structure, and activities of these crucial nongovernmental networks. Meticu-
lously researched and derived from personal interviews and organizational doc-
uments, this book also makes an important contribution to the study of interna-
tional political and economic institutions. When assessing the future
diplomatic relevance of INGOs in light of the recently established intergovern-
mental organization, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, the author argues that
as the regional cooperation .movement expands at the governmental level, an
understanding of the nongovernmental roots of that movement is required if
the diplomatic contributions of INGOs are to be retained.
Lawrence T. Woods is an associate professor of international studies and Asia-
Pacific politics at the University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George.
Canada and International Relations
1 David G. Haglund, editor, The New Geopolitics of Minerals: Canada
and International Resource Trade
2 Donald McRae and Gordon Munro, editors, Canadian Oceans
Policy: National Strategies and the New Law of the Sea
3 Theodore H. Cohn, The International Politics of Agricultural Trade:
Canadian-American Relations in a Global Agricultural Context
4 Russell S. Uhler, editor, Canada-United States Trade in Forest Products
5 A. Claire Cutler and Mark W. Zacher, editors, Canadian Foreign
Policy and International Economic Regimes
6 Andrew F. Cooper, Richard A. Higgott, and Kim Richard Nossal,
Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World
Order
7 Lawrence T. Woods, Asia-Pacific Diplomacy: Nongovernmental
Organizations and International Relations
8 James Rochlin, Discovering the Americas: Canadian Foreign Policy and
Latin America
Lawrence T. Woods
Asia-Pacific Diplomacy:
Nongovernmental Organizations
and International Relations
UBCPress / Vancouver
© UBC Press 1993
All rights reserved
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper oo
ISBN 0-7748-0440-8
ISSN 0847-0510 (Canada and International Relations series)
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Woods, Lawrence Timothy, 1960-
Asia-Paciflc diplomacy
(Canada and international relations, ISSN 0847-0510; v. 7)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7748-0440-8
1. Pacific Area cooperation. 2. Pacific Area - Foreign economic
relations. 3. East Asia - Foreign economic relations. 4. Non-
governmental organizations - Pacific Area. 5. Non-governmental
organizations - East Asia. I. Title. II. Series.
HF1642.55.W65 1993 337.1V823 C93-091415-5
UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support to its publishing program
from the Canada Council, the Province of British Columbia Cultural Services
Branch, and the Department of Communications of the Government of Canada.
UBC Press
University of British Columbia
6344 Memorial Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
To my parents
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Contents
Tables and Figures / viii
Preface and Acknowledgments / ix
Abbreviations / xi
1 Introduction: The Pacific Economic Cooperation Movement / 3
2 INGOs, International Relations, and Diplomacy / 11
3 The Institute of Pacific Relations/ 29
4 The Pacific Trade and Development Conference/ 41
5 The Pacific Basin Economic Council / 66
6 The Pacific Economic Cooperation Council / 89
7 The PECC Process in Action / 126
8 Conclusion: Asia-Pacific Diplomacy, INGOs, and Regional
Economic Cooperation / 149
Appendixes / 167
Notes/ 173
Bibliography / 211
Index / 249
Tables and Figures
Tables
4.1 Pacific Trade and Development Conference series / 44
5.1 Pacific Basin Economic Council: international annual
general meetings / 69
6.1 Pacific Economic Cooperation Council: conferences / 95
Figures
4.1 Pacific Trade and Development Conference:
organizational structure / 45
4.2 PAFTAD International Steering Committee, 1992 / 46
5.1 Pacific Basin Economic Council: organizational structure / 71
5.2 PBEC international officers, 1990-2 / 72
6.1 Pacific Economic Cooperation Council: organizational
structure / 106
6.2 PECC International Standing Committee, 1990-2 / 107
Preface and Acknowledgments
The establishment of the intergovernmental Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum in November 1989 marked the beginning of
a new phase in pan-Pacific regionalism. Previously, three international
nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) - the Pacific Trade and
Development Conference (PAFTAD), the Pacific Basin Economic Coun-
cil (PBEC), and what is now known as the Pacific Economic Coopera-
tion Council (PECC, formerly Conference) - had been leading the way,
the presence of less substantial intergovernmental initiatives notwith-
standing. This book is about this trio of INGOs and is intended as a
study of the nongovernmental diplomacy underpinning the regional
economic cooperation movement. It also casts an earlier INGO, the
Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR), as an often overlooked precursor. In
his volume, The New Regionalism in Asia and the Pacific (1991), Norman D.
Palmer observes that the experiences of PAFTAD, PBEC, and PECC 'merit
careful examination' (p. 154). My work is, in part, a response to this call.
Many references to private papers and correspondence utilized during
the research stage - including those held by the Australia-Japan
Research Centre (AJRC, Canberra), the Canadian Chamber of Com-
merce (CCC, Ottawa), and SRI International (formerly Stanford
Research Institute; Menlo Park, California) - have been omitted here. I
also wish to acknowledge that earlier versions of elements of this book
have been published in academic journals: Chapter 3 has been pub-
lished as 'Regional Diplomacy and the Institute of Pacific Relations' in
the Journal of Developing Societies 8 (July-October 1992):212-22; Chapter
5 was published as 'A House Divided: The Pacific Basin Economic
Council and Regional Diplomacy' in the Australian Journal of Interna-
tional Affairs 45 (1991):264-79; and parts of Chapter 7 have appeared in
'Delicate Diplomatic Debuts: Chinese and Soviet Participation in the