Southeast Asia is back. That is the message sent by leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last weekend after their annual two-day summit. With member economies set to expand between 2 and 3 percent this year and looking forward to "higher and sustainable growth" in the future, the heads of state gathered in Manila claimed that their countries have recovered from the economic crisis that began in 1997. As a result, the group declared its intention of reclaiming its rightful place on the international stage. It will take considerably more than a year or two of revived prospects for that to happen.
Events since 1997 have revealed the "ASEAN success story" to be considerably different than advertised. Nonetheless, ASEAN and its East Asian neighbors have two-fifths of the world's population and $7.75 trillion in combined gross domestic product. The international community must be prepared for a newly assertive East Asia. But ASEAN, and its dialogue partners -- Japan, China and South Korea -- have much to do to earn that place on the world stage.
The message was well-timed. Representatives from 135 economies are meeting in Seattle this week to kick off another round of world-trade talks. Although the "ASEAN+3" has not developed a unified position on the planned round, the group pledged to "intensify coordination and cooperation" in such forums. The world received a taste of that newfound spirit during the hard-hitting campaign to get Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, the former Thai deputy prime minister, elected head of the World Trade Organization. Now the group is reportedly throwing its weight behind Japan's efforts to have Mr. Eisuke Sakakibara, the former vice finance minister, replace Mr. Michel Camdessus, who will step down as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.