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Event Report

NIICE Nepal hosted a webinar on multilateralism in Asia pacific webinar on August 28, 2020. Sir Donald Charles McKinnon discussed the origins and many features of multilateralism in the Asia-Pacific region. Despite being destroyed at the end of World War II, he said that after being rebuilt with American assistance, Japan emerged as the region's most significant economic force and a leader in many other countries. Trade between North and South-East Asia grew as a result, but China stayed outside this nexus. He asserted that this marked the start of multilateral trade in the Asia Pacific, primarily carried out by Japan and afterward followed by Korea and other South-East Asian countries.

He explained that the rise of Multilateral trade occurred with the people realizing the disadvantages of continuing trade within a single country and the advantages of carrying out trade in a multilateral way. He said that the need for economic growth coerced the nations to indulge in multilateral trade to develop those countries' economies. With the rise of multilateral trade, the local traders started to feel discriminated against, and a conflictual situation emerged between the local trading system and the international trade. He further explained that the lack of uniform rules and regulations made international multilateral trade fragile and unstable. Thus, GATT was formed to create a uniform international trading system with rules, regulations, licenses, and limits to handle these issues. Then, he spoke about multilateral trade in the Asia Pacific. From his own experience of being a part of APEC from the beginning, he spoke about APEC's role in the multilateral trade in the Asia Pacific and the challenges it faced in bringing China involved in the forum. He said that APEC was a purely economic forum, but several security concerns demanded discussion. Thus, ASEAN Regional Forum was created to discuss the region's security issues, and China also showed significant interest in this. He explained that multilateralism grew incrementally in the Asia Pacific through different channels. He explained the challenges to multilateralism in the future scenario.

He wraps up his speech by saying that the sine qua non of multilateral trade is a rules-based order, a degree of acknowledgment of independent sovereignty, allowance of some degree of political autonomy, and the multilateral trade must be based on universal values. In reply to the question of how the conflict between the United States and China affects multilateralism in the Asia Pacific, he explained that the small countries are affected severely due to this rivalry and should continue to voice their concerns without getting involved in the conflict. He explained that nationalist feelings and populism make countries step back from multilateralism. He further spoke about New Zealand's position in the multilateral order and shed some light on its perspective of New Zealand. He discussed how the commonwealth could play a role in combating Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific. He also discussed the potential of Quad in creating a balance in the region in terms of power. He talked about the role of the US Presidential Election in international relations and the possible effects of the US strategy in the Asia Pacific region. He discussed the significant challenges to multilateralism in the Asia Pacific. According to him, India has great potential in the region and can replace China in terms of power. He explained the potential of the 'Belt and Road Initiative to increase trade in the region.

Prepared by Adrija Maity, Intern at NIICE, Nepal