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.