ASEAN holds its own in East Asia Grouping: Analysts
ASEAN holds its own in East Asia Grouping: Analysts
M. Jegathesan, Agence France-Presse/Kuala Lumpur
The East Asia Summit debuts here next week, raising fears it could marginalize the venerable ASEAN bloc that it sprang from, but observers say Southeast Asia's club will retain its central role.
The East Asia Summit groups the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) along with regional powerhouses China, Japan and South Korea, and newly accepted members Australia, India and New Zealand.
The 16 leaders of the world's newest grouping will meet here next Wednesday, after the annual two-day ASEAN summit, but no one yet knows what the forum stands for, or even when it will convene again.
The Malaysian hosts say they expect the summit will be a strategy-focused organization with a wide geopolitical view, while some hope that it could be the precursor of an eventual free-trade East Asian Community.
"There has always been some expression of concern whether we are going to replicate, or to overwhelm such processes," Syed Hamid Albar said this week when asked if the summit would obliterate smaller groupings.
"(But) we should not be challenging other processes or bodies. We should add value to existing bodies -- that's our intention."
Diplomats and analysts also said that the uncertainty over the new grouping's identity ensured that ASEAN would, for the next few years at least, remain the region's central force for closer integration.
"It will not diminish the role of ASEAN. We have to see how the East Asia Summit will develop," a top European diplomat told AFP.
An East Asian diplomat involved in the wrangling over the guestlist for the inaugural event said that although ASEAN was "in the driver's seat", problems could emerge in the future as the membership widened.
"The more big powers join, it will be difficult for ASEAN to persuade them to accept its ideas. This may cause a split within ASEAN as some ASEAN members may come under pressure from the big powers to accept their ideas," he said.
Abdul Razak Baginda, from the influential Malaysian Strategic Research Center, said the inclusion of India, Australia and New Zealand -- as a counterweight to China -- meant the grouping had already lost its way.
"Any fear that the gathering will eclipse ASEAN is unfounded. Because nothing is going to come out of the summit. Even the members do not know what creature they have created," he said.
"The leaders are going to spend a few hours together. That's all," he said, adding that the grouping has no specific framework or membership policy.
Describing the inaugural East Asia summit as a "talkshop", Abdul Razak noted it was originally intended to be a confined to the countries meeting in recent years as "ASEAN plus-three" -- China, Japan and Korea.
"Now they have opened it. There is no clear commonality in the club. You have India and Australia. Why not put in the United States and North Korea. In the end it is a talk shop," he said.
Syed Hamid said however that far from being nervous about stepping up onto the world stage with regional giants India and China, the birth of the forum indicated a new maturity in the regional outlook.
"I think it shows that we have reached a stage. We recognize the challenges, at the same time we also look at the opportunities," he said.
"Looking at India and China, these are two big giants but you can't just say we're scared that they will overwhelm us. I think with 500 million population within ASEAN, we intend to play a role... and to give meaning to the people of the countries within ASEAN."
ASEAN, founded in 1967, is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.