The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced
at its meeting in November 2012 that it would host negotiations among its
members on “a sweeping trade pact that,” according to the New York Times,
“would include China.” The trade agreement would include not only the ten
countries that are in the association, but also six other countries that have
free-trade agreements with the association. In addition to China, those
countries include Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. Half of
the world’s population would be included in the pact. Notably absent is the
United States. This is no accident, as the Obama administration’s own proposal
for an eleven-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership excludes China. In other words,
the contending proposals may be more about a “control battle” between two
contending empires—the United States and China—than anything else. Moreover,
which proposal succeeds could say something about whether China succeeds the
United States as the hegemonic super-power of the twenty-first century.
Barack Obama and Wen Jiabao: A contest of wills at the East Asia Summit in 2012. Jason Reed/Reuters
The full essay is at "Global Trade Dominance: China or The USA?"
