Co-chairing international negotiations: the case of the Chiang Mai initiative multilateralization

Abstract

This paper studies the roles of co-chairs in international negotiations. This study attempts to fill the research gap by scrutinizing co-chairs' effectiveness, defined as an ability to shape agreement details in one's direction, to better understand chairs' and co-chairs' influence in negotiations. I argue that a co-chair's effectiveness is not a function of resource possession, but is rooted in its resource management, or ability to convert the existing resources into bargaining influence. To validate my argument, I analyze the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) negotiation rounds from 2005 to 2010, focusing on the members' financial contributions and vote shares.

Keywords::

• Co-chair
• Chair
• Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization
• Financial cooperation
• East Asia

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article.

List of Interviews

Interview with Ms Vachira Aromdee, Bank of Thailand officer, October 2010.

Interview with Staff, ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC staff), March 2011.

Interview with officer, Bank of Indonesia officer (BI officer), January 2011.

Interview with officer, Bank of Japan officer (BOJ officer), November 2010.

Interview with officer, Bank of Korea officer (BOK officer), November 2010.

Interview with officer, Bank Negara Malaysia officer (BNM officer), October 2010.

Interview with Mr Akkarasiri Buranasiri, director, The Neighboring Countries Economics Development Cooperation Agency and Agricultural Cooperatives (NEDA) Thailand, September 2010.

Interview with Mr Olarn Chaipravat, honorary advisor, Fiscal Policy Research Institute Thailand, October 2010.

Interview with Mr Mario Lamberte, researcher, Asian Development Bank Institute, November 2010.

Interview with officer, the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia (MOF Indonesia officer), January 2011.

Interview with officer, the Ministry of Finance of Japan (MOF Japan officer), November 2010.

Interview with officer, the Ministry of Finance of Thailand (MOF Thailand officer), October 2010.

Interview with Mr Junggun Oh, professor, Korea University, November 2010.

Interview with Mr Chalongphob Sussangkarn, Co-chair of 10th ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers' Meeting, Former Thailand's finance minister, February 2011

Interview with Mr Perames Vudthitornetiraks, Former Ministry of Thailand officer, Thai negotiator in the 2009 CMIM negotiation, September 2010.

Interview with Mr Masanori Yoshida, officer, the Ministry of Japan, November 2010.

Notes

1. The ASEAN members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The ASEAN was found on 8 August 1967, by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

2. In February 2010, the Philippines announced that it could contribute US$ 4.552 billion because its reserves had reached US$ 45.59 billion (interview: MOF Thailand officer 2010).

3. In rare occasions, a deviation from consensus – the so-called ‘ASEAN-X’ formula – was adopted to resolve conflicts. However, my interview results did not show any use of the ‘ASEAN-X’ formula during the CMIM negotiations.

4. In rare occasions, a deviation from consensus – the so-called ‘ASEAN-Minus-X’ – was adopted to resolve conflicts. ASEAN-Minus-X permits a subgroup of ASEAN to advance its agendas without waiting for the other members to go on board. However, my interviews did not show any use of ASEAN-Minus-X in CMIM negotiations.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Pacific Rim Research Program of the University of California, USA for the Year 2010–2011.