Singapore may deservedly be called the “Houston of Asia” in that its petroleum-related activities have placed the country at the heart of the Pacific Basin's energy economy. Singapore's refineries collectively constitute the world's third largest refining centre, after Rotterdam and Houston. The country's oil trading links extend from the Persian Gulf across to Northeast Asia, and from Australia to the U.S. West Coast. The Singapore spot market, focal point of oil trade in the Asia-Pacific time zone, has made Singapore-quoted prices the bench-mark for the region's petroleum transactions. In February 1989, the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX) will have launched its High Sulphur Fuel Oil contract, the first petroleum futures instrument east of Suez.

Singapore, the world's busiest port of call, also ranks as the world's largest fuel oil bunkering centre. It is one of the largest builders of offshore drilling rigs and the region's most comprehensive and competitive base for repair, maintenance, and logistics services for the offshore oil and gas industry. The country's petrochemical complex, although modest in scale by world standards, is an important exporter of ethylene-based products in the region. Other petroleum-related activities include independent petroleum storage and blending, brokerage of shipping services and marine insurance, warehousing of equipment and supplies, and the manufacture of parts and components for the petroleum sector.

The Singapore petroleum industry has received little academic attention despite its scale and importance with respect to both the domestic and regional economies. To date, there has not been a single comprehensive study published on the subject. The lack of industry-specific data and the confidential nature of many of the details of industry operations are undoubtedly part of the explanation. Description and analysis of various aspects of the Singapore petroleum sector are confined to trade and industry journals and the odd essay by observers in business publications. Consultants' reports and in-house studies conducted by large multinational oil companies and other industry participants, usually the best sources of oil industry data in Singapore, are naturally restricted to clients and proprietary parties.

I. Introduction

China's policy of opening to the outside world was made in late 1978. However, places are open to various degrees. Therefore there have been four echelons of opening — Special Economic Zones (SEZs), coastal open cities, coastal open economic zones, and inland.

August 1980 saw “Regulations Governing the SEZs in Guangdong Province” authorized at the fifteenth meeting of the Fifth People's Congress Standing Committee. Shortly afterwards came the promulgation establishing four SEZs in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, and Xiamen. In April 1984, the Chinese Govern- ment declared the opening of fourteen coastal harbour cities and Hainan Island, after it had gained experience from the four SEZs and the setting up of Economic Zones for Technical Development in open cities with good environment. Some preferential policies concerning the SEZs were to be adopted to attract foreign investment, which aimed to introduce advanced technology and start joint research and production of new technology, products, and industries. January 1985 saw the Chinese Government's decision to open up the Yangtze and Zhujiang River Deltas, and the Southern Fujian Triangle as coastal economic zones. Thus, the SEZs, coastal open cities, economic zones, and inland open China to the outside world, in a sequence which moves from seashore to inland, with different levels and emphases. (Up to the end of 1986, 80 per cent of the operating foreign-invested enterprises were located in the coastal open cities.) Data on the SEZs are given in the Appendices.

It should be pointed out that each of the various levels of opened areas has its own characteristics. SEZs profit much from their grographical position of easy access to the world market. The fourteen coastal cities have advantages mainly in their thriving economy and all kinds of talents. They are places abundant in resources, particularly foundations for industry. The population in these cities is less than 8 per cent of the national total, but the industrial output value accounts for 23 per cent of the national total.

Given the increasing length of life after retirement from work, it is important that the potential contribution of the elderly in the community be maximized, and that they be treated as a resource rather than a burden. In Western countries, efforts are increasingly being made to tap the abilities and interests of the aged through such programmes as retired executives' programmes in which retired executives provide voluntary assistance in the running and management of small businesses; foster grandparents' programmes in which elderly people can become surrogate grandparents to children or young people who lack close family or are estranged from close family for some reason; and involvement in a wide range of community activities and associations requiring the input of time, of which the elderly have more to spare than do younger people who are in the work-force or busy raising families.

In Southeast Asia, there is less “institutionalization” of the community role of old people, but because of the respect accorded to age, and the prevalence of community activities involving all age groups rather than age group-based activities characteristic of more highly urbanized societies, there is a more automatic involvement of the elderly in the affairs of the family and of the community. For example, in the Philippine survey, about 40 per cent of the elderly females reported that they spent most of their time caring for other family members.

Related to the role of the elderly in the community is the question of their leisure time activities. It is clear from Table 8.1 that listening to the radio and watching TV are important leisure time activities, being engaged in by roughly half the respondents in all countries, with little difference between the sexes. Talking with friends/neighbours occupies about a quarter of respondents in most countries, though fewer in Singapore and much more in Thailand. The importance of reading appears to differ quite markedly by country and sex, the differentials being linked, no doubt, to differentials in literacy.

ASEAN countries, whether of necessity or from philosophical conviction, seek to maintain the existing system of family care and concern for the elderly. The family is seen as ultimately responsible for its elderly dependants, and institutionalization to be used only as a last resort. The aim is to obtain as much community participation as possible. This philosophy is reflected in the kinds of income maintenance, health care, recreational programmes, and publicly funded institutional care available to the elderly. Governments provide limited special services for particular groups of the aged, and rely on private and charitable groups to assist in providing for the needy. Social security programmes are typically limited to employed individuals with complementary special welfare programmes for the impoverished and the impaired.

Thailand is perhaps typical of the other ASEAN countries in the increasing attention given in government development plans and in welfare programmes to the needs of the aged (see Debavalya and Boonyakesanond 1982). The Thai Government set up the National Committee on Ageing in February 1982, chaired by the Minister of the Interior. This committee has established seven subcommittees and held a national “Seminar on Roles of all Organisations in Longterm Planning for Elderly Population”. In the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1982–86), the needy aged are considered a special target group along with many other underprivileged groups such as orphans, needy children, victims of disasters, the disabled, etc. In addition, it is the policy of the government to encourage the participation of the private sector in the provision of social welfare services for the needy aged. The plan aims to strengthen the family as a basic social unit to enable it to care for its own elderly members more adequately. As well as residential care where needed, non-institutional care, particularly in the form of social service centres for the elderly, will be expanded. In terms of health care, the under-5s and over 60s are singled out as groups to receive special emphasis. A programme of free medical care for those aged over 60 is being gradually introduced in general hospitals throughout the country.

Ladies and Gentlemen

The interest in terms of listening to a person of the calibre and experience of Professor Kindleberger is that, I suppose the brain expands as you get older because his interest has widened rather than narrowed as is well known. And the guiding principle has been curiosity – curiosity to try and learn, curiosity to try and explain and explore new avenues. What he has been expounding and passing to people who have come into contact with him is that you never stop learning and you always question. So, it is refreshing to listen to him, who is a trade union economist but ranges over the wide fields of political science, psychology, sociology, and so on. I am sure you would like to join me in thanking Professor Kindleberger in giving us the opportunity of ranging through this age from the 1920s to the 1980s, but even more fundamentally in ranging through the whole range of explanatory variables of any particular phenomenon. And if you have learned anything this afternoon, it is that no one solution or one explanation is going to work. For those of us who live here in Singapore, I thought, the rule of the game is how to keep one step ahead of disaster. Professor Kindleberger, thank you very much.

I. Introduction

There are two main sections in this study. The first reviews the strategic policy dimension and posture of ASEAN members in their external economic relations and their implications for ASEAN-China economic relations. The second examines the policy instruments and institutional mechanisms of individual ASEAN countries which have evolved in response to the economic opening up of China and in the context of its new economic relationship with ASEAN countries.

It is inaccurate to suggest that there is a collective ASEAN posture with regard to external economic relations with China. To date there are no official ASEAN-wide policies and institutional mechanisms which constitute the official conduits for economic relations between ASEAN as a group on the one hand and China on the other. All existing economic relationships, particularly at the governmental level, are conducted at the national level on a bilateral plane.

There are, however, some ASEAN private sector initiatives to approach China collectively. The approach is nascent and at the brainstorming stage. In particular, the G-14 for ASEAN Economic Co-operation and Integration, initiated by ASEAN-Chambers of Commerce and Industry, has suggested collective ASEAN initiatives with socialist economies which include China. But, for its rhetoric and numerous recommendations, the question of the China-ASEAN economic relations was deliberately made a low priority and conspicuously kept at a low profile.

However, with respect to its external economic relationships with other countries, ASEAN has developed various institutional mechanisms and broad pro-active policies collectively to have dialogues with major countries (particularly the United States, Japan, and EEC members) and to have a common stand on certain global economic issues (particularly in trade and protectionism). There are definitely areas of commonality and shared interests in regional and global economic issues, and it is in these that one can identify a common, if not collective, policy position. In spite of this, we must recognize that there are substantial differences in views and postures among the ASEAN countries on various global economic matters. The following section will highlight some of these collective ASEAN policy positions.

Introduction

In Thailand the public sector consists of three major institutions: the central government, state enterprises and local governments. The size of the Thai public sector has expanded rapidly both in absolute terms and in relation to the total size of the economy.

The central government finance is made up of budgetary and non-budgetary transactions. Budgetary transactions refer to the fiscal transactions as stated in the annual budget. They are financed by budgetary receipts which may take the following forms: tax revenue, sales and charges, contributions from state enterprises, domestic borrowing and use of treasury cash balance.

Non-budgetary transactions are those outside the annual budget, which may take the forms of foreign grants and loans and extra-budgetary funds. The extra-budgetary funds consist of deposits of public agencies with the treasury and revolving funds set up for specific purposes. These funds are not subject to budgetary control and depositing agencies can disburse their funds without having to go through the normal budgetary procedures. An example of revolving funds is the Oil Fund, which was set up to stabilize the retail prices of petroleum products through charges and subsidies on their retail sale.

Central government deficit on a cash basis consists of a budgetary cash deficit plus non-budgetary cash deficit made up of an extra-budgetary deficit and external loans and grants. Thus, while budgetary deficit may be financed only by domestic borrowing, central government expenditure financed by external loans forms a part of non-budgetary transactions.

State enterprises are the second major public sector institution in Thailand. Their budget consists of a current and a capital budget. While the current budget is mostly financed by their operating revenue, most capital expenditure is financed by domestic and external borrowings. These borrowings require the approval of the National Debt Committee at the Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for ensuring consistency with macro-economic targets. Certain state enterprises do receive subsidies from the central government budget. These enterprises are engaged mostly in promotional activities and do not earn revenue. Tourism Authority and Sports Authority are two examples of such enterprises receiving subsidies.