A borderless East Asia? It takes imagination

Endy M. Bayuni, Kuala Lumpur

Imagine the nations of East Asia (however it is defined geographically) living in a borderless world, the way a community should. It may seem far-fetched. Can people in this part of the world really put aside centuries of differences, rivalries and bitter wars and come together to live as a single community? Can Chinese and Indians, or Chinese and Japanese, or Japanese and Koreans, overcome their long-held mutual suspicions, trust each other and live together happily ever after?

The answer to this lies in the hands of the 16 leaders gathering in Kuala Lumpur this week for the inaugural East Asian Summit. If only they could arrive here without all of the political baggage of the past, then we would be well on our way.

Not that these leaders need any reminding of their task. The host nation has put up banners to welcome the leaders arriving for a series of summits, and to remind them of the objective of this whole exercise. At the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, at intersections along the capital's main streets and at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center where the summits will be held for the next three days, the banners read: "One Idea, One Vision, One Community."

East Asian-skeptics would be quick to point out that the idea of a single East Asian Community is a distant if not unattainable dream.

East Asia is no Europe, they would say. If it took Europe 50 long years to integrate into a single community and get to where it is today, how long will it take East Asia, which is far larger geographically and in population, far more heterogeneous and far more burdened with old and bitter rivalries, to get rid of its borders and integrate its peoples?

In retrospect, the same question could have been asked about Europe in the early 1950s. Did anyone really think then that it was possible for Europe to integrate into a single community when it embarked on the idea in 1950? Did Jean Monnet, the French internationalist whose vision it was of an integrated Europe, really think then that Europe would come this far? His idea then was simply to integrate the coal and steel industries of six European countries in order to avert another war, a serious concern as Europe had just emerged from two world wars.

Fifty years later, it turns out the idea was not as ridiculous as it sounded at the time. So maybe the idea of an East Asian community is not all that far-fetched either. Maybe there is hope for East Asia; all it takes is a little imagination.

As ambitious or ridiculous as the idea of a single community sounds, today the question is no longer "if" but "when" East Asian nations, or rather their leaders, will be prepared to move in that direction.

Europe is already more or less integrated, and the United States is looking to expand to the north and the south to establish a Pan-American community. It only makes sense that East Asia should follow the same path and form its own community.

Another big question that East Asian countries need to ask themselves is how do you geographically define such an imagined community? Certainly the 10 Southeast Asian countries grouped in ASEAN, plus China, Japan and South Korea can be counted in for geographical reasons. But should the community also include India, Australia and New Zealand -- whose leaders have been invited to the inaugural East Asian Summit? And what about Russia, whose president, Vladimir Putin, will be in town for the inaugural ASEAN-Russia Summit? And what about the United States, which has not been invited to the summit but feels that since it is a Pacific country it should be included in the new club?

ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea, in their earlier summits, have discussed a free trade area, but now that ASEAN has created the East Asian Summit there are discussions that the free trade area, and therefore the idea of a single community, should also involve India, Australia and New Zealand.

Certainly, bringing Asia's two giants -- China and India -- into one forum is a daunting prospect, and having them both in one community would simply be awesome at a time when their economies are growing so robustly.

What is clear is that from the start any discussion about a single community should involve the people. After all, it is for their benefit that this idea is being explored.

Traditionally, a free trade area or some kind of economic arrangement precedes the idea of a community, simply because this is the easiest route. Business sectors jump at the opportunity not necessarily because they are concerned about community, but because they will have access to larger markets. But there is no harm in trying to involve other sectors in the process from the earliest stages to defuse the antiglobalization and antifree trade forces.

In the final analysis, it is up to the leaders in Kuala Lumpur this week to decide when they want to begin walking down the road toward a single community. Since this is the first East Asian Summit, it is probably asking too much for the leaders to pen their commitment here, but even a statement of intention will suffice to get the ball rolling. After all, isn't that what a leader is for: to translate a dream into a vision.

Rather than having the leaders link arms as the usual photo- op, why not for a change have them all sing a slightly altered last two lines of John Lennon's Imagine: "I hope some day you will join us, and East Asia will live as one."

The writer is editor in chief of The Jakarta Post.