Why ASEAN is giving Biden’s IPEF a chance

Indo-Pacific Economic Framework lacks clear market-opening measures but SE Asian nations are nonetheless keen to join

US President Joe Biden formally announced his administration’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) last week, with a dozen nations – including seven from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – stepping forward to join negotiations to formalize the new and loosely defined economic pact.

Appraisals of the initiative have thus far been mixed, with critics saying the proposed framework doesn’t offer participating countries enough value to serve as an effective economic counterweight to China. Asia Times’ correspondent and Southeast Asia Insider editor Nile Bowie has followed the story closely and shared his assessment of the IPEF in this week’s Q&A.

Read the full interview at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.

Biden shrugs off ASEAN’s free trade mantra

Washington’s diplomacy with Southeast Asia sidestepped free trade agenda despite lobbying from regional leaders

US President Joe Biden hailed a “new era” in relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) when its leaders visited Washington last week for a two-day summit aimed at strengthening strategic ties with a regional organization that in recent years has pursued deeper economic integration with China through trade and infrastructure projects.

While the two sides pledged to elevate their relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” and the White House’s show of diplomatic initiative was warmly received, observers say the absence of a multilateral economic program that offers expanded market access has left Southeast Asian nations increasingly disappointed with the US over a lack of progress on trade issues.

Biden told the gathering of regional leaders that strengthening US ties with ASEAN is “at the very heart” of his foreign policy strategy. But absent an economic alternative to Beijing’s various big-ticket initiatives, the administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy risks being viewed through the prism of security and what some regard as an effort to geopolitically contain China.

“The recent summit was a tick-box exercise for the US to show that it can walk and chew gum at the same time,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist and professor at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. “The US is evidently trying to raise its game in view of ASEAN-China ties, but Washington will need to do more if it is to be convincing to countries around the Indo-Pacific.”

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.

Malaysia squandering a palm oil price windfall

Malaysia should be a major beneficiary of sky-high global prices but acute labor shortages are limiting its upside

Indonesia’s controversial ban on palm oil exports has sent global edible oil prices soaring, creating a supply gap that Malaysia is in a pole position to fill. But ongoing labor shortages due to more than two years of Covid-19 border curbs have left the country ill-equipped to fully capitalize on a golden opportunity to expand its market share.

Zuraida Kamaruddin, Malaysia’s Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, has nonetheless reassured markets that global demand would be met by raising production, promising new foreign worker arrivals in May and June after plans to add more labor have stalled for months. Malaysia and Indonesia jointly account for 85% of global palm oil output.

Apart from Indonesia’s haphazard export ban, enacted to tamp down soaring domestic prices, vegetable oil prices climbed to all-time highs in March after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted sunflower oil shipments and drought in South America led to reduced soybean production in Brazil, the world’s biggest exporter of the oilseed.

Supply uncertainties have so far benefited Malaysian palm oil, with exports to the European Union, where the commodity had been increasingly shunned due to environmental and forced labor concerns, surging 48.3% in March compared with February, while exports to India, the world’s largest importer of edible oils, rose 20.8% in March.

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.