Chapter 3 - Pearson Learning Solutions

90 PART 2 • THE GLOBAL MARKETING ENVIRONMENTASIA-PACIFIC: THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEASTASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN)The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established in 1967 as an organizationfor economic, political, social, and cultural cooperation among its member countries.Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand were the originalsix members. Vietnam became the first Communist nation in the group when it was admitted toASEAN in July 1995. Cambodia and Laos were admitted at the organization’s thirtieth anniversarymeeting in July 1997. Burma (known as Myanmar by the ruling military junta) joined in1998, following delays related to the country’s internal politics and human rights record (seeFigure 3-6 and Table 3-9).Individually and collectively, ASEAN countries are active in regional and global trade.ASEAN’s top trading partners include Japan ($161.8 billion in total 2006 trade), the UnitedStates ($161.2 billion in total 2006 trade), the EU ($160.6 billion in total 2006 trade), and China($140 billion in total 2006 trade). A few years ago, ASEAN officials realized that broad commongoals were not enough to keep the association alive. A constant problem was the strict need forconsensus among all members before proceeding with any form of cooperative effort. Althoughthe ASEAN member countries are geographically close, they have historically been divided inmany respects. In 1994, economic ministers from the member nations agreed to implement anASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA); recent progress at reducing intra-regional tariff reductionsmeans that the free trade area has finally become a reality.Recently, Japan, China, and Korea were informally added to the member roster; someobservers called this configuration “ASEAN plus three.” When the roster expanded again toinclude Australia, New Zealand, and India, it was dubbed “ASEAN plus six.” The latter is workingto establish an East Asian Community, with the first step being the establishment of an EastAsian Free Trade Area. 12 Although China’s participation has met with some opposition, China’sdynamic growth and increasing power in the region required a response. As ASEAN SecretaryGeneral Rodolfo Severino noted, “You can either close yourself off from China and crouch inFIGURE 3-6Map of ASEANMyanmarLaosAsiaThailandASEAN (Assoc. of SoutheastAsian Nations)Member countries970 km600 miCambodiaVietnamPhilippinesSouthChinaSeaPacificOceanMalaysiaBruneiSingaporeIndonesia12 Bernard Gordon, “The FTA Fetish,” The Wall Street Journal (November 17, 2005), p. A16.000200010270740623Global Marketing, Sixth Edition, by Warren J. Keegan and Mark C. Green. Copyright © 2011 by Warren J. Keegan. Published by Prentice Hall.