In Brief...World News Review Rise of East Asian Power Bloc
While the recent World Trade Organization meetings were marred by protestors, the more significant meetings may have been those held the week before in the Philippines. Asian leaders gathered for a summit meeting that laid a foundation for the formation of a regional bloc of East Asian nations.
While the recent World Trade Organization meetings were marred by protestors, the more significant meetings may have been those held the week before in the Philippines. Asian leaders gathered for a summit meeting that laid a foundation for the formation of a regional bloc of East Asian nations.
The South China Morning Post reported: "Leaders of North and Southeast Asian nations have signed a historic pact to strengthen bonds through closer economic and monetary co-operation.
"The mainland, Japan and South Korea joined the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the first step towards the eventual creation of a giant East Asian common market, an economic powerhouse encompassing two billion people.
"Philippine President Joseph Estrada, who chaired [the] informal summit in Manila, said: 'If we persevere and work harder, maybe, the promise we fulfill will realise an even loftier dream. An East Asian common market. One East Asian currency. And one East Asian community-a family from the happy union of north and south'" (November 29, 1999).
A December 2, 1999, Stratfor report added this comment in light of the Malaysian turmoil: "Asia is on the threshold of abandoning its longstanding policy of non-interference. On Nov. 2, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad called on the region to form a pan-Asian security structure to promote peaceful cooperation. His move echoes a growing paradigm shift, as Asian countries begin to realize that threats to individual nations' stability threaten that of the entire region. The ongoing separatist struggles in Indonesia have strengthened this sentiment; the 10 ASEAN members, and Japan, China and South Korea have announced that they stand behind Indonesia's sovereignty. Although they now lack the military capability to support their stand, Asian nations are moving faster than ever toward acting like a regional bloc."
Stratfor predicts American "protectionist measures" will have a major impact on Asia. "It is vital to understand, of course, that a round of protectionist measures by the United States late in the decade will have profound effects on the international system. Most important, as the United States disengages from the Eastern Hemisphere, powerful hegemonistic forces will emerge in Eurasia that will tend to destabilize the international system as a whole. That will leave a politically resentful, militarily powerful America, suffering from serious but far from catastrophic economic dysfunction, facing an increasingly unstable world.
"It is therefore our view…that economic destabilization in the United States will contribute greatly to a massive rise in international tension late in the decade. Several great powers will arise throughout Eurasia, challenging American primacy. The competition among those powers and between them and the United States will be intense, complex and dangerous. It will lack the elegant simplicity of the Cold War, posing instead the mind-numbing complexity of the pre-World War I period."
Bible prophecy shows that in the end time massive armies from the east will converge upon the Middle East and Jerusalem in particular. These forces will gather to fight against Christ at His Second Coming. See Revelation 9:14-16 and 16:14-16. Events in Asia are moving, perhaps slowly for now, toward some form of cooperative effort that will have a major impact on the world in the coming years. WNP
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: January 2000
Course Content
Darris McNeely
Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
