Asian ministers gather in China

Asian ministers gather in China

Peter Harmsen, Agence France-Presse/Qingdao, China

A forum of 22 Asian foreign ministers is expected to face some of
the region's thorniest issues -- from the North Korean standoff
to the Indo-Pakistani rift -- when it gathers in China this week.

Although not on the official agenda of the third session in
the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), these security matters are
likely to loom large on the sidelines of the meeting in the
eastern port city of Qingdao.

The ACD, established on a Thai initiative two years ago, may
have none of the formal powers of other Asian organizations, but
it nevertheless brings together high-level decision-makers for
rare personal encounters.

"It does tend to attract a stellar lineup," said Nick Thomas,
a researcher with the China-ASEAN Project at the University of
Hong Kong.

The two-day ACD meeting, which begins on Monday, will draw
ministers from the 10 members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan, South Korea, India,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and several Gulf nations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, who will chair the
talks, is to meet separately with his colleagues from Japan and
South Korea, just ahead of the start in Beijing of six-nation
talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

The three-way discussions will address regional security,
trade and environment issues and are the first since the leaders
of the three countries agreed in Indonesia last October to
intensify cooperation.

It is another sign that the trio is increasingly acting as a
sub-group within the larger East Asia area, said Ralph Cossa of
Pacific Forum CSIS (Center for Strategic and International
Studies), a Hawaii-based think-tank.

"This is a net plus for regional security as long as it is
seen -- as it currently is -- as a complement to (other regional
efforts) and not as an effort to work around them or exclude the
U.S. from regional economic or security discussions," he said.

The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan will also meet in
Qingdao in their first talks since a change of government in New
Delhi, according to the Indian government.

Natwar Singh of India and his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid
Mahmud Kasuri, will hold a working lunch on Monday, coinciding
with talks on nuclear security in New Delhi between the two South
Asian neighbors.

Back at the main venue, host nation China may wish to push
regional energy cooperation since its own economy, speeding ahead
at a nearly double-digit clip, needs all the fuel it can get,
observers said.

The ACD is a pet project of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, who will also attend the talks in Qingdao, which are
the first outside Thailand after gatherings in Bangkok in 2002
and Chiang Mai in 2003.