Jakarta gives cold response to East Asian summit plan<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
While Indonesia continues to have reservations about holding an
\nEast Asian summit next year, the secretary-general of the 10-
\nmember Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Ong Keng
\nYeong, said on Monday the summit would go ahead as planned.<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Jakarta Post, Ong said the summit
\nwould be politically symbolic because of the presence of the 10
\nleaders of the ASEAN countries and their dialog partners from
\nJapan, China and South Korea.<\/p>\n
"At the appropriate time, we should hold a high-level meeting
\nof the three plus the 10 under ASEAN. It will be a very big,
\nsymbolic political event," said Ong, who last week said the
\nsummit would be held sometime next year.<\/p>\n
In December last year, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
\nKoizumi raised the idea of creating an Europe Union-style East
\nAsian Community during a commemorative summit with ASEAN leaders
\nin Tokyo, just three months after the ASEAN leaders agreed to
\nthe creation of the single market ASEAN Community by 2020. ASEAN
\nleaders cautiously welcomed Koizumi's proposal at the time.<\/p>\n
However, there are fears among the ASEAN members that they
\nwould be sidelined in the process, or that they would be caught
\nup in the rivalry between China and Japan. South Korea, Japan and
\nChina annually attend the ASEAN summit (ASEAN+3). Last year India
\nalso joined as a new dialog partner.<\/p>\n
"We are now persuading each other that this is a good idea,"
\nOng said.<\/p>\n
The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marty
\nNatalegawa, said there should be more study of how a summit with
\nEast Asian countries could bring long-term benefits to ASEAN
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
He also said Southeast Asian countries should work to increase
\ncooperation within the ASEAN+3.<\/p>\n
"We have to explore what an East Asian summit can achieve,
\nwhat kind of added value an East Asian summit can provide us. We
\nneed to take advantage of the process that we have, to think of
\nthe East Asian summit (as) part of ASEAN+3," Marty said.<\/p>\n
Ong said one Southeast Asian country and China had offered to
\nhost the summit.<\/p>\n
Taking a different stance from Indonesia, Malaysian Prime
\nMinister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi urged last Monday early action on
\nthe launch of the East Asian Community to meet the challenges and
\nopportunities of an expanded European Union and the free trade
\narea of the U.S.<\/p>\n
Abdullah said during the second East Asia Congress in Kuala
\nLumpur that it could take at least two generations for Southeast
\nAsian countries to reach the European benchmark.<\/p>\n
According to Agence France-Presse, he further suggested that a
\nfuture ASEAN+3 meeting could issue a "Concord of East Asia" as a
\nsymbolic laying down of a major milestone toward the ultimate
\ngoal. He also proposed the creation of an Asian or East Asian
\nMonetary Fund, which would supplement but not supplant the
\nInternational Monetary Fund.<\/p>",
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