EAEG: Acronym for regional prosperity
The peace dividend is the imperative driving the Prime Minister, again, to persuade East Asian nations -- this time in Tokyo -- to adopt the East Asian Economic Grouping (EAEG). Why? As he points out, Europe has had a half century of peace because of the European Economic Community, now renamed simply the European Community (EC). And, with peace comes prosperity.
A regional organization has become somewhat urgent for East Asia as the region moves rapidly into what is an historical period not unlike that experienced by modern Europe in its economic infancy where the struggle for market dominance ran along traditional fault lines. The same potential exists here as the number of newly industrializing economies increases.
China's size, for instance, brings with it the kind of overwhelming potential that may not bode well for smaller nations. Despite its pacifist history and its recent support of Southeast Asia during the financial crisis, the so-called "yellow peril" can be more than mere rhetoric should ideas of regional hegemony become fashionable in Beijing. Therefore, it would be politic to have China within the group, thus pre-empting such a possibility.
Economically, China promises to be nothing if not a regional engine of growth. The reforms started by Chairman Deng Xiaoping are proving to be a very sound platform for economic development, which in turn will make for rapid economic modernization resulting in the creation of a market that will far outstrip that of the United States. Working together as part of an economic caucus, East Asia then could easily become an economic powerhouse given the presence, too, of the world's second largest economy, Japan.
Peace would indeed create a formidable regional prosperity. If pre-financial crisis ASEAN is anything to go by, where prosper- thy-neighbor is a maxim elevated almost into a mantra, where political engagement takes precedence over all else, an East Asian caucus that encompasses large swathes of natural resources and an incredible talent pool holds a future of unimaginable riches. It is no wonder that the EAEG is a non-starter in certain quarters.
-- New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur