The prospects and challenges
\nof ASEAN and East Asia groupings<\/p>\n
Kavi Chgongkittavorn
\nAsia News Network
\nBangkok<\/p>\n
The future of East Asia, or Asia for that matter, will be in
\nthe hands of leaders from 10+3+1+2, represented by ASEAN, China-
\nJapan-Korea, India and Australia and New Zealand, when they meet
\non Dec. 14 in Kuala Lumpur. Although the inaugural meeting will
\nbe very symbolic with fanfare, the future ramifications are still
\nunfathomable.<\/p>\n
Obviously with Malaysia as host of the East Asian Summit
\n(EAS), ASEAN is moving forward to strengthen its identity,
\ndespite uncertainties and divergences among member countries on
\nthe future course of EAS.<\/p>\n
For the time being, the priority is being placed on the
\nongoing ASEAN plus three (APT) process. Some ASEAN members have
\nexpressed concern that without further consolidation of their 10-
\nyear old cooperation, the newly emerged EAS might be overwhelmed
\nby the APT process. To allay this fear, ASEAN and China, Japan
\nand Korea will sign a separate declaration among themselves
\nstressing the imperatives of their cooperation and community
\nbuilding.<\/p>\n
The grouping's staunch desire to construct the future rule-
\nbased community within East Asia among the APT has already caused
\nuneasiness with India, Australia and New Zealand. While they are
\nappreciative of being part of the EAS, they have not yet come to
\nterms with why they are not part of the emerging East Asian
\ncommunity. When this concept was introduced in the early 1990s,
\nit was quickly turned down because it was viewed as anti-American
\ngrouping during the first year of President Bill Clinton
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
Soon, the international community will find out if the future
\nof East Asia will stretch from Kashmir, India to Southland, New
\nZealand or simply limited to the APT. After almost two years of
\ndiscussion, founding members of EAS have not yet agreed if their
\nsummit will serve as a springboard for the formation of an East
\nAsian Community (EAC). As the summit approaches, they have not
\nyet agreed on the nitty-gritty of the EAS modality.<\/p>\n
When an East Asian Community three was proposed years ago by
\nSouth Korea and subsequently Japan, it envisaged a much bigger
\ncommunity-building process that would link the region with the
\nbroader Asia Pacific: the participation of Australia and New
\nZealand as well as India would complement this idea. But the idea
\nof East Asian cooperation that ASEAN worked on was based on the
\nAPT and its enlargement.<\/p>\n
In the beginning, hopes were high that ASEAN would be more
\naccommodating in allowing non-ASEAN EAS founders to do more and
\nin the process gradually transform the EAS into a regionwide
\nforum for community building. However, that was a wishful
\nthinking.<\/p>\n
At the Kuala Lumpur summit, the APT leaders will again
\nreiterate that the much-heralded EAS should be just a strategic
\ndialog forum for leaders to discuss important issues of common
\ninterest. It will be a forum with a loose structure and no fixed
\nagenda. In that sense, the EAS will have nothing to do directly
\nwith community building in East Asia.<\/p>\n
Obviously, ASEAN views community building in East as an APT
\nprocess with the ASEAN Community and ASEAN's bilateral dialog
\npartners with China, Japan and Korea as well as bilateral
\ncooperation among the three as building blocks.<\/p>\n
They will not speak of establishing a secretariat, as Malaysia
\nsuggested in the beginning. ASEAN will lead and chair all future
\nmeetings, very much to the chagrin of Japan, which prefers other
\nnon-ASEAN countries to co-chair meetings. In a nutshell, ASEAN
\nwill be calling the shots, as it always has done as in the ASEAN
\nRegional Forum.<\/p>\n
ASEAN leaders see the EAS as an Asian-type G-8 meeting, which
\nwill take up specific themes or issues, including invitations of
\nspecific guests. For example, in the past year China and India
\nwere invited to join in G-8 discussions.<\/p>\n
The Declaration on the ASEAN Plus Three Summit that will be
\nsigned by their leaders will ensure that the process that began
\nin 1992 continues. Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia have been
\ndemanding that the APT be the main driving force and not be
\ndiluted in any way by the new forum.<\/p>\n
A series of summit meetings that also include Russia will take
\nplace along with the announcement of the establishment of an
\neminent persons group to prepare the drafting of an ASEAN
\nCharter. The EPG group will study future scenarios for ASEAN
\nbeyond the current action plan for 2020. Whatever the group
\nagrees to will be reflected in the charter.<\/p>\n
Prominent ASEAN personalities such as former Filipino
\npresident Fidel Ramos, former Malaysian deputy prime minister
\nMusa Hitam, former Singaporean foreign minister S Jayakumar,
\nformer Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas and former Thai
\nforeign minister Kasem Samosornkasemri have already agreed to
\njoin the group. They expect to finish the draft charter within a
\nyear. To help them, the Jakarta-based ASEAN Secretariat has a
\nfinished draft that encompasses important elements found in all
\nASEAN documents and action plans.<\/p>\n
In recent years ASEAN states have realized that they have to
\nwork closer together to tackle common problems, especially
\nserious cross-border issues such as terrorism, haze and
\npollution, people trafficking and drug smuggling, and contagious
\ndiseases such as bird flu and SARS. The law-binding charter will
\nfacilitate cooperation on such issues. For instance, if need be,
\nin the case of antiterrorism cooperation, there could be a speedy
\nextradition of persons involved in terrorist acts.<\/p>\n
Through increased cooperation, some of the key ASEAN members,
\nsuch as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, hope
\nthat the member countries will talk less about the non-
\ninterference principle and opt for practical approaches. The
\ndiscreet but sustained pressure from the ASEAN MPs Caucus on
\nBurma was cited as a good example.<\/p>\n
As host of the EAS, Malaysia wants to leave a legacy that it
\nhas made ASEAN more engaging with the rest of the world and that
\nEAS should be a nonexclusive entity. Not long ago Prime Minister
\nAbdullah Badawi said he wished to see ASEAN be more open and down
\nto earth. He is now working to make sure that this happens.<\/p>\n
At the summit, the Malaysia leader will lead a scheduled 15-
\nminute meeting between the representatives from ASEAN civil-
\nsociety organizations and his ASEAN colleagues. It will be the
\nfirst such major encounter, underscoring the host's desire to
\nmake ASEAN less elitist.<\/p>\n
There are at least 50 non-governmental organizations
\nregistered as ASEAN non-governmental organizations. But only a
\nfew, such as ASEAN-ISIS and the ASEAN University Network, are
\nrecognized and enjoy regular contact with ASEAN senior officials.<\/p>",
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