The Nagoya Conference ('92 AH/ATTN Asian Powers)

[Sabara]

Nagoya Convention Center
Nagoya
State of Japan
March, 1992

Point of View: Motamo, Japan's Prime Minister

You can hear the raindrops, 'plip, plop' over Nagoya Central Station, the heart of the city's transportation center. It's a rainy march day in Japan's third largest prefecture, and you've just arrived with your entourage from Tokyo, riding on the country's famous bullet train - Shinkansen. You're on your way to the Nagoya Convention Center, a huge complex recently built to hold multiple different events for the city. The black limousine that will take you to the Conference has just arrived on the side of the road, and you are quickly herded in.

You are quickly zooming through the narrow streets of Nagoya, past traffic and tourists trying to find their way through the canopy of cherry blossoms that tower over your head. Amid this chaos, you wonder about the talks that will be held at the convention center. Will nations, such as Korea, agree to the bilateral self-defense talks? Will China wish for a more aggressive alliance? It's too early to tell, but you're hoping that this meeting will overall solidify the Asian Powers together.

Finally, the limousine arrives at the entrance to the Convention center. You quickly exit the car, and walk past security guards who are patrolling around the building. Quickly showing your credentials to the receptionist at the front desk, you are escorted to a large, spacious room with a round table, a seat with a name for each of the leaders and delegates attending the conference. You are seated between the Chinese and Malaysian presidents. Now, it's just time to wait for the other delegates to arrive.

You can just post quick arrivals (like, one paragaph) and then I''ll get the talks started once everyone here.

[Imperial Baekchae]

President Wu impatiently clicked his pen on the table's surface, wanting to get started as soon as possible. He brought no papers, no diagrams and no factbooks or statistic sheets. He was that kind of man, one who gave a dominating aura by simply existing, and trusted his own instincts and tenacity to see the Chinese through this with a good deal and further undermining of the United State's influence in the Eastern World. Dressed in a sharp, black suit, Wu looked professional, sharp and eager to start going in there to try to dominate the talks to convince the Asian powers to agree to a binding, more active alliance treaty.

"Can you even be certain that India and Korea will arrive? Or for that matter, any other invitee delegations?" he demanded. "I see no reason to wait for a bunch of no-shows. We should get started soon." he mumbled in Chinese. He wasn't the best educated man in China, and an interpreter simply stood beside him, repeating what the Chinese Dictator had just said.

[Sabara]

Ms. Kawasaki just smiled. No amount of blustering would change this woman's composure. She was generally admired for her serenity, sense, and calm composure. Although small, she did command some amount of attention and it was oftentimes that Ms. Kawasaki would calm down a tense situation in the Diet or other foreign meetings.

"It is a pleasure to see you, Wu-san," She smiled. "However, I agree. Let us begin these talks as we wait for the other delegate to arrive."

[Rephesus]

Nagoya, Japan.

The delegation from India had just arrived as the meeting was beginning, the Indian ambassador to Japan and delegation translator, Barat Singh, along with the Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao would lead the delegation. A staff of 11 dIplomats, liaisons and attaches were also present in the delegation, along with a representative from the PHs (Pan Hindustan) party which was the official opposition, in addition to an observer for the Dali Lama's government in exile, along with the Burmese Administrative Secretary.

The Indian Union was prepared for the talks, and hoped that the other delegations would be as well, the liaisons went on to make formal introductions and greetings

[The New Lowlands]

Nagoya Convention Centre, Nagoya, Japan

The arrival of the Malaysian motorcade was one without particular pomp or circumstance. At some point- slightly after the agreed time by all accounts, even those of the Malaysians- a number of black cars showed up, and deposited a Malaysian delegation and a throng of security staff, the latter of which carved a path through a sea of flashing cameras and surprisingly loud reporters to the spacious doors of the conference centre along which the delegation walked steadily, depositing themselves into the spacious halls of the building.

Most of the delegation scattered at this point, excluding a middle-aged, brown-skinned woman in a dark suit with her hair in a light-coloured hijab, who observed the signs and proceeded to the negotiation table. Liani Salimputri, the President of Malaysia, took her seat, an interpreter moving to loom over her shoulder as she spoke, cautiously, aloud;

"Selamat Sore," she began in greeting, before shifting smoothly into Japanese. "Greetings to my most esteemed company. I apologise profusely for my lateness, Kawasaki-san." A practiced phrase; the President shifted a stack of papers onto the desk before her, folding her hands in front of her. "How shall we begin?" she concluded, in Malay.

[Sabara]

Nagoya Conventions Center
Nagoya, Japan

Ms. Kawasaki nodded to her Malayasian counterpart. "Well, we are still waiting for the Koreans to arrive. However, I think it best to begin now and fill them in later as the meetings progress. So, let's begin." The Prime Minister walked up to a power point she had prepared for the occasion and pressed the 'on' button for the Macintosh computer. Immediately, the overhead showed a map of Asia. The nations of Korea, India, China, Malaysia, and Japan were highlighted in blue, with Nagoya standing out in the map with a red star.

"It is an undisputable fact that all of us attending this summit today represent the main powers in East Asia and the Indian-subcontinent. We are, inexplicably tied together. Whether we like it or not," Here, she pressed the side key and up popped an agenda, with a list of items. "So, Myself and the Chinese President have already been communicating through telephone of what is to be discussed at this summit. Here's what we've drawn up:

I. Free-trade discussion/Pact
II. Defense Treaty
III. Commerce between our nations
IV. Russian aggression.

So, let's start with talking about our current trade policies. Japan would like to see less tariffs on goods travelling throughout East Asia, and a possible common currency. What do you all have to say on that, or do you have anything to add?"

[The New Lowlands]

Nagoya Convention Center, Nagoya, Japan

"The idea of a common currency although of interest perhaps in a limited spectrum for such similar economies such as Korea and Japan, holds no particular interest for the Federation," Ms. Salimputri said in a regretful tone. "The variance between our requirements in terms of currency as a result of our economic specialisations is prohibitive to any such venture. It could, perhaps, be undertaken, but such a system will require strict central controls which may be prohibitive to national sovereignty for governments which are so inclined. It would be folly to dismiss such a proposition in it's entirety, however; perhaps we could encourage more rigid exchange rates between our currencies?"

"A free trade pact is of course in the interest of the Federation, although the terms of it will require close review. Perhaps, as a baseline, we could discuss the elimination or reduction of tariffs between our states, or simplifying the rules for international investment between our states? As for commerce, it remains the position of the Federation that it would be best to allow the free market to chart the course for most of the way in that regard, although of course considerations must be made for strategic industries and resources."

"Regarding a defence treaty, it might be prudent to have any such organisation seek co-operations with major regional partners such as the United States or Oceania. We must also discuss whether or not any such treaty will be along the lines of a NATO co-operation agreement, with standardisation of equipment and all, or more along the lines of a series of treaties on mutual defence."

"As for the matter of Russian aggression, it is the opinion of the Malaysian government that recent events have mostly dealt with this problem."

[Imperial Baekchae]

Nagoya Conventions Center
Nagoya, Japan


"China, too, sees no reason for a single united currency. While it may work for Europe, Asian nations are simply much more powerful and independent than those tiny Western nations. We have no need for such complications, and our economies are prospering as they are.

I do believe, however, in the reduction of Tariffs, but elimination only for energy and food sources. Food and energy should be free from the tariff, and rather made free so that our nations will not be crippled by any sort of disasters or market crashes.

I also believe we should have an inter Asian disaster relief and trade organization, which China will gladly fund and host in Hong Kong, as well as annual Military Conferences and training games to coordinate our national military forces against the force of the enemy. I believe it would be in our interests to hire former United States, Soviet and NATO military experts to help better prepare our troops to know exactly what they may come up against. A standard caliber of ammunition and other basic supplies should also be agreed upon so our forces can work in conjunction and share supplies in cases of joint military action."

[Rephesus]

Nagoya, Japan

After a couple minutes if my biking among the delegation, the primary translators spoke, in response to the Japanese, Malaysian and Chinese delegations.

"While the Indian Union acknowledges the improbability of a functioning Asian currency, we would like to remind the present parties that the Union Rupee is a world currency being used in various Union States along with outliners such as Singapore, Tuvalu and the Seychelles. For the reason that the rupee is a strong and truly Asian trade currency, the most commonly used in terms of population globally, we do believe that the present parties and most Asian nations should keep an abundant reserve of Union Rupees in order to safeguard the Asian economies in the event of economic turmoil, much like how many nations have large reserves of the US Dollar or the Euro.

On the topic of tariffs, as many of you know the Indian Union along with China are massive industrial powerhouses for manufacturing products that are shipped globally, thus the entire Asian region is affected by its trade policies, so we do believe economic transparency in terms of dropping food and energy tariffs is imperative for long term regional economic prosperity. As a show of good faith the Indian Union will remove food and energy tariffs with any nation in attendance who will do the same for the Union.

In terms of military cooperation, conflict of interest is an obvious concern, the Indian Union stands firm in the belief that East and South Asia must have military cooperation for mutual prosperity, yet the conflict of interest in external international alliances is a large concern, as no 'ally of an ally' principle should convulse our region into conflict, thus we motion that in the event of an intergovernmental mutual military cooperation organization, the member states not be a member of any other standing military alliance."

[The Great Korean Empire]

Nagoya Convention Center, Nagoya, Japan

A motorcade of black cars zoomed across the streets of Nagoya. The President of the Republic of Korea Roh Tae-woo had arrived late as he had made a last minute decision to attend. They suddenly came to a halt in front of the massive building as the President exited the vehicle surrounded off course by security. The yelling of questions and greetings answered the man as a path was forced through for him to enter the doors of the conference. As they entered and the racket outside lessened a bit they dispersed around as he walked to the negotiation table where the Heads of State from Japan, China, Malaysia, and India sat. Nodding he sat down with an interpreter at the ready. Speaking in Korea he said "Forgive me for my lateness to the conference. I was caught up back in Seoul for... some issues. Now what problems are at hand that need discussion"? He was prepared to do what was needed to be done in order to benefit the Korean people and the Korean nation. Off course as long as it didn't hurt it in any form.

[Sabara]

Nagoya Convention Center, Nagoya, Japan

"So it is agreed that a common currency is too extreme for our nations. However, Ms. Salimputri's comments quite interest me. If we can establish set exchange rates, it could help keep a 'standard', of sorts. I for one certainly support such an idea. Regarding the Union Rupee, I believe most of our currencies (at the moment) are strong enough to avoid having to keep a reserve - however,

On to the subject of tariffs. Is it agreed that, tariffs should only be abolished and food and energy exports? Or should other goods, such as cars (which are major Japanese exports) also be freed from tariffs?" Here, Kawasaki paused as the Korean delegate arrived. She bowed to him quickly, motioning to a chair next to the Indian delegate. "Moving on to the Defense discussion, I agree that we Asian nations should remain untangled with Western Alliances. I do not want to see another war in Asia."

[Imperial Baekchae]

Wu almost growled at the Korean delegation's arrival, clearly displeased by their lateness. However, any Korean would know that Wu wasn't truly mad; Wu had often made statements congratulating the Koreans for their economic growth and Confucian Determination, and it was common knowledge that Wu looked upon Korea favorably, as he did with Japan. He was a very Sino centric man; thus his strong anti foreign sentiment.

"You are late, Mr.Roh Tae-Woo. Take a seat lest you cause any more unnecessary distractions.Now, where were we? Ah, yes."

"I believe that other goods should have tariffs placed on them, though reduction of said tariffs should never be out of the question. However, in truth, tariffs on consumer goods might not be as beneficial as one might imagine. No, leave the elimination of tariffs for foodstuffs and energy sources. Though I propose possibly extending the elimination of tariffs for military equipment and supplies as well, to better permit ourselves to defend both our own nations and those of the signatories of this pact."

"I also agree that we should not be necessarily obligated to assist nations in honoring individual treaties; I would not ask India to intervene in my military operations. However, we must have an agreement to not interfere with other member state's operations, and a clause to defend each others' territorial sovereignty and national defense."

[The New Lowlands]

Nagoya Convention Center, Nagoya, Japan

"On the subject of the elimination or reduction of tariffs on the automobile industry," Ms. Salimputri began, "I must admit that this is an area of concern for the Malaysian government. Our domestic automobile industry, although fledgling, holds significant strategic interest for the Federation. As a result, I should hope to request that we be allowed to return tariffs to normal levels should we find reasonably evidence that there is an existential threat to our domestic sector. In any case, however, Malaysia will be happy to comply- initially, at least- with a reduction of tariffs in key industries."

"If we are indeed going to expand our economic co-operation, whether by setting up standard rates for currency exchange or otherwise, it might be wise to delegate oversight of such an operation to an international body- a council of some sort, perhaps. Indeed, it might benefit us to have such an organisation simultaneously oversee or work in parallel with any security agreements we broker here."

"While of course it remains in the interest of our association to ensure that outside actors including the traditional West do not influence our association overmuch, it might be viewed as elusive or even confrontational to exclude them from our forum completely. Some dialogue should be considered and implemented with both the United States and Allied Europe."

"Finally, on the matter of territorial sovereignty, any security agreement will of course also require a legal arm to deal with our various internal territorial and judicial disputes. Perhaps such a branch could be expanded to allow for wider co-operation with regards to international justice between our states?"

[The New Lowlands]

Nagoya Conference Center, Nagoya, Japan

"So, in conclusion, it seems that we have reached some level of agreement on the following elements of discussion;"

"The signatories of the document that this conference is meant to produce agree to reduce or eliminate internal trade barriers and tariffs, particularly in the realm of energy supplies, food and agricultural products, and other trade goods to be agreed, as well as taking other measures- such as setting standard rates for currency exchange- in order to better integrate their economies. The signatories agree to protect each other's territorial sovereignty, and, in addition, to peacefully come to conclusions regarding the expanse of their territorial boundaries with regards to one another."

"In order to complete all these requirements, it would seem that we require a number of elements of international governance in order to oversee and hold a mandate over the terms of the agreement. Thus far, we identify these elements as the following;"

Salimputra slipped on a pair of thin-framed spectacles, perusing a sheet of paper from a notepad lying before her.

"Firstly, an international body analogous to a court will be established to mediate and rule on territorial disputes between the signatories, as well as on other international affairs brought before the court."

"Secondly, an international council will advise the governments of the Member States on what measures to take in the realm of economic co-operation and integration, as well as producing suggestions for the proposed fixed exchange rates. The Member states will, in accordance with this body's suggestions, also attempt to eliminate tariffs on goods, primarily energy resources and food."

"Insofar as international military co-operation and standardisation has been discussed, it is our opinion that this is a subject for another time."