Asian Flu Cure Still Elusive Summit Participants Find There’s No Quick Fix

There is no quick fix, no easy way out, just lots of pain and embarrassment with more to come.

That was the hard-to-accept message from the three-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit that wrapped up Tuesday with little fresh to boost confidence in the region’s sagging economies.

For the fourth time in less than two months, government officials met to craft a plan to end the continuing decline that has seen several Asian currencies lose 40 percent or more of their value in recent months.

First, there were high-level finance ministers in Manila, Philippines, followed by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vancouver, Canada, three weeks ago and ASEAN finance ministers a week after that in Kuala Lumpur.

This time, leaders of the ninemember ASEAN were determined to come up with a statement investors would take seriously. Analysts blame the crisis on overvalued currencies, large trade deficits and a speculative surge in stock and real estate prices.

When handed a draft statement Monday that top officials had spent hours crafting, they said it wasn’t strong enough and went to work trying to beef it up.

As currency traders and stock markets waited, the leaders found out the difficulties they faced.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, trying to avoid the bitter austerity measures others have accepted for bailouts from the International Monetary Fund, wrote his own draft.

But despite his anti-IMF, anti-Western investor stand, Mahathir gained only a few concessions and was left dejectedly talking about the region’s countries being victims of forces they cannot fight.

In the end, the statement accepted a central role for the IMF, which, in exchange for billions of dollars in aid, has demanded belt-tightening, financial reforms and other measures likely to lead to an economic slowdown and increased unemployment.

The leaders’ statement also called for implementing a plan drawn up at the Manila meeting, along with more buying within the region - and more involvement by the rest of the world.

As a result, the Thai, Indonesian and Philippine currencies hit all-time lows both Monday and Tuesday. The Malaysian currency hit an all-time low Monday before recovering slightly Tuesday.

In typical fashion in Asia, where seeking handouts means a loss of face, the leaders did not come out and ask for more money.

Instead, they asked Japan to be a go-between, both for going to the West for assistance and pursuing rollovers from Japanese private banks for loans to the region.

They called for a “strong statement or action” from the United States and other economic powers. They said this was now a global problem that needed a global solution.

There were hints - with China, South Korea and Japan attending an ASEAN summit for the first time - of expanding an ASEAN Free Trade Area to North Asia, a move the United States earlier condemned as splitting the Pacific down the middle.

There also were suggestions to drop using the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen as the universal currencies.

But no one said: “This is our fault. We should have seen trouble coming but took no action.”