Trade and the environment: Foreign policies of developing countries in Asia

The issue of trade and the environment is becoming an important foreign policy agenda item. For many developing countries, international trade is the driving force of economic growth. At the same time, natural resources and the environment are also key considerations for these countries. Consequently, they need to realize sustainable development by way of mutually supportive trade and environmental policies. Since the 1970s, increasing attention has been paid to environmental issues in Asian developing countries due to rapid economic growth and industrialization in one nation after another (Harashima 2000: 34). The World Trade Organization (WTO) has dealt with the issue of trade and the environment since its inception, and the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE), established within the WTO in 1995, has been a key forum for trade and the environment negotiations under the multilateral trading system. After overcoming an economic crisis in the late 1990s, Asia has been

swept by waves of globalization. This has brought about new movements, such as China’s accession to the WTO and enhancements of free trade agreements (FTAs) within the Asian region. These developments have important implications for environmental foreign policy. This chapter outlines the North-South conflict in trade and the environment

negotiations. It identifies the positions of Asian developing countries at CTE negotiations in an attempt to understand the issue of trade and the environment in their foreign policies. Using key trade statistics, it also explores the relationship between these negotiating positions and changes in the countries’ structure of trade. Finally, the chapter posits that the national economic interest of each country is the key variable that determines its environmental foreign policy behavior. Within the typology of theoretical approaches presented by Barkdull and Harris (see Chapter 2 in this volume), this chapter focuses on the systemic level and emphasizes interests as variables in the foreign policy of trade and environment.