Australia is 'no juniorally' in East Asia

Australia is 'no juniorally' in East Asia

Elisia Yeo, Agence France-Presse/Kuala Lumpur

Australia insisted on Wednesday it was not a junior partner at East Asia's first summit, after China suggested that it was on a second tier in the grouping which it fought hard to join.

"No, I don't think so," Prime Minister John Howard told reporters when asked whether it was a second-class participant at the inaugural 16-nation talks which covered security and trade issues.

"I feel very comfortable with the way in which Australia interacts and relates, and the experience of these meetings and the bilateral exchanges only serve to reinforce the approach that we have taken," he said.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao insisted earlier that the original 13 members of the East Asia Summit -- the 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc plus China, Japan and South Korea -- would guide the future of Asian integration.

The other three -- Australia, India and New Zealand -- were controversially included as a counterweight to Beijing's influence in the forum where the United States is not represented.

"The East Asia Summit should respect the desires of East Asian countries, and should be led by East Asian countries," Wen said, while adding that the other three were "welcome" to participate.

Howard said that although it was an historical fact that Australia was "not an Asian country", it belonged in the grouping because of its common interests with the countries of the region.

"We should never see ourselves as being exclusively part of one part of the world," he added. "I find this frantic search for a precise unanimously accepted definition of who we are is a load of nonsense."

Howard also weighed in on the subject of Russia's bid to join the East Asia Summit, which President Vladimir Putin attended only as a "guest" after its application was knocked back for the time being.

"I talked about the need not to expand the East Asia Summit just for the sake of expansion," he said. "I wasn't alone in saying that. That's not directed against him (Putin) but it's just a matter of common sense. You don't start talking about expanding the membership of a body the first day it meets."

Australia's hard-won entry to the East Asia Summit has been overshadowed by race riots at home which detracted from Howard's portrayal of his country as an open society deserving of a place at Asia's meeting table.

Howard was so keen for an invitation to the inaugural summit that he backed down on an initial refusal to sign a regional non- aggression pact which was a condition of entry.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has explained Australia's U- turn on signing the ASEAN peace pact, saying its inclusion in the summit was "enormously important for Australia's long-term destiny."

"We think the East Asia summit, over the years, could form the nucleus of an emerging East Asian community," Downer said.

"You could imagine in 10 or 20 years' time a free trade area that might go everywhere from the north of China down to Stuart Island at the south of New Zealand and across to India."

Howard held bilateral talks with Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on the sidelines of the summit, with the two leaders resolving to hold a three-way defense dialogue with the United States.

They also confirmed their plans to cooperate over their strategy in Iraq, where Australian troops are guarding Japanese soldiers engaged in non-combat humanitarian work in southern Iraq.