China, Japan and South Korea meet Southeast Asian partners
China, Japan and South Korea meet Southeast Asian partners
Peter Harmsen, Agence France-Presse/Vientiane
Ministers from East Asian giants China, Japan and South Korea met their Southeast Asian partners on Wednesday for talks diplomats said would cover trade and steps toward forming a new regional community.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing was however to make an early departure from Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) meetings in Vientiane, skipping annual security talks with other ASEAN partners starting on Thursday.
His absence, along with that of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, is seen by many as a snub to the ASEAN Regional Forum, (ARF) expected to focus on anti-terrorism measures.
The talks between the ASEAN foreign ministers and Li, South Korea's Ban Ki-moon and Japan's Deputy Foreign Minister Ichiro Aisawa were likely to focus on plans to create the world's largest free-trade zone covering most of East Asia, a diplomat said.
They would also touch on an East Asia Summit scheduled for December, which will bring together the 10 ASEAN countries, China, Japan, South Korea, India, New Zealand and Australia and could start the process of establishing a new East Asia community which could be modeled on the European Union.
South Korea was also due to sign an agreement to cooperate with ASEAN on fighting terrorism, which China and Japan have already agreed to.
The meeting in Laos came against the backdrop of six-nation talks in Beijing on North Korea's nuclear program.
"The six-nation talks are proceeding smoothly," Li said as he emerged from a meeting with Ban before talks with the ASEAN ministers.
The six-party negotiations involve China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia.
But for ASEAN the focus was on China, which appears to be gradually assuming a regional leadership role seemingly abandoned by regional rival Japan and has growing influence among Southeast Asian nations living in its shadow.
"China, with the growth of its economy, is bound to play a greater role in the region, and so far China has been playing a constructive role," said Sihasak Phuangketkeow, a spokesman of the Thai foreign ministry.
"Of course, people see the growth of China's economy as leading to more competition, but at the same time there are immense opportunities."
China has been carefully building its relations with Southeast Asia, beginning with its decision in the late 1990s to keep its currency stable even as competitive devaluations were rocking the region.
More recent Chinese moves applauded in the region include willingness to sign on to steps to dismantle tensions in the potentially oil-rich South China Sea and plans for the East Asia trade area.
But behind the smiles and friendly handshakes that accompanied Li's visit to Vientiane were concerns in Southeast Asia about what China's rise means for the region, analysts said.
"The rising clout of China is viewed with ambivalence by ASEAN," said Tai Wei Lim, an expert on ASEAN at Cornell University. "Chinese power is both feared and welcomed."
The fact that both China and the United States compete for influence also gives the otherwise relatively weak powers in the region some measure of influence, according to analysts.
The ASEAN states "try to use the United States as a counter- balance against the rise of China's military power," said Shee Poon Kim, an international affairs scholar at Taiwan's Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages.