DRAFT page 1
EAST ASIA & PACIFIC: REGIONAL PLAN
1.
AIM
To meet the challenge of Asia-Pacific opportunities and enhance Britain's standing in the region.
2.
RESOURCES
The Grant-in-Aid to the region is £15.4 million: this is 63% of that to Central and Eastern Europe (£24.8 million) and almost half as much more as to the Americas (£10.6).
FCO devotes £810 million to Asia (including South Asia) compared to £320 million to Central and Eastern Europe and £220 million to Latin America. FCO are also discussing the possibility of increasing funding levels in Asia by some 15 to 20% in order to match resources to the pattern of UK trade.
There would appear to be a significant gap between the pattern of resource allocation in FCO and in the Council which needs to be narrowed.
Level funding by the Grant-in-Aid is divided as follows:
Brunei China
£ 52,000
£2,093,000
Hong Kong Indonesia
£1,198,000
£1,179,000
Japan
£3,405,000
Korea
Malaysia
£ 814,000 £1,214,000
Mongolia
£
47,000
Philippines
£ 282,000
Singapore
£ 697,000
Thailand
£ 641,000 £11,532,000
3.
TOTAL
CURRENT CONTEXT
East Asia is the region of economic miracles: Japan, China, the 'Asian Dragons'. But there is considerable economic and political variation between the countries.
GDP per head: Vietnam $200, Japan $25,430
average annual growth: Philippines 0.9, South Korea 9.7
education spending as % of GDP: Hong Kong 2.8, Malaysia 5.6
population: Brunei 0.2 million, China 1.2 billion