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The Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) officially established in 1996 an inter-regional forum that consist of ten members of the Association of Southeast Adian Nations (ASEAN),China, Japan and South Korea as well as twenty five member states of the European Union (EU) and the European commision (EC). Is ASEM an exercise in building a region or is it an institution for creating a regime ? ASEM is more than a summit.It is also more that just a process.Though it is far from developing into a formal organization, it has acquired a certain structure.This article explains the wider Asia-Europe relationship .ASEM has contributed to multi -level governance in international politics through encouraging inter-regional cooperation,promoting regional identity-building and enhancing multi lateralism. ASEM process has also enhanced the role of the EU in encouraging multi dimensinal dialoque and cooperation building a regime, and emphasizing cross-cultural comprehension and mutual respect. It might be too early to have a definitive judgment about the success and failure of ASEM after a decade of its existence,this article puts in perspective some of the modest contributions that ASEM has brought about conceptually in the debate on multi -level governance, and more concretely to the level of interactions between Asia and Europa |
