East Asia forum seeks community beyond borders

East Asia forum seeks community beyond borders

Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Kuala Lumpur

The inaugural East Asia Summit concluded here on Wednesday
with 16 leaders vowing to work towards building a community that
is defined by their shared strategic, geopolitical and economic
interests rather than strictly by geography.

"The East Asia Summit was a success. There is no doubt about
it," Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who chaired the
gathering, told a media conference after the leaders signed their
joint declaration at the end of the meeting.

A public display that the meeting was cordial and warm, just
as Abdullah had described it, came when Chinese Prime Minister
Wen Jiabao handed a pen to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi at the signing, and the two smiled at each other. But
even then, the tension that exists between them was visible as
Wen kept his back turned on Koizumi most of the time as he talked
to Abdullah to his right during the signing ceremony.

While the establishment of an East Asia community was the
chief topic of the meeting, the presence of the Chinese and
Japanese leaders drew strong media attention because of the
ongoing row between the two over Koizumi's regular visits to the
Yashukuni Shrine to honor the dead from World War II. The shrine
contains the remains of convicted war criminals.

Wen had unilaterally canceled a traditional summit that
leaders of China, Japan and Korea hold on the sidelines of the
ASEAN summit here this week.

During the media conference, Abdullah said the conflict
between China and Japan was not raised during the meeting because
it was purely a bilateral matter. But he underlined the presence
of the two leaders as demonstrating their commitment to finding a
solution to their problems.

Besides China and Japan, the EAS, as the summit is officially
referred to, was also attended by leaders from South Korea and
the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN). Completing the lineup were leaders from countries that
could hardly be described as East Asian: Australia, New Zealand
and India.

At the meeting, the leaders agreed to meet each year on the
margins of the ASEAN annual summit. Next year, it will be the
turn of the Philippines to host the meeting.

Abdullah said the leaders agreed on the idea of establishing
an East Asian Community that essentially involved countries
taking part in the EAS.

What brought these leaders together, according to Abdullah,
was their shared concern for the peace, stability, prosperity and
progress of the region, noting that Australians, New Zealanders
and Indians would hardly call themselves East Asians.

"The East Asian Community will be a reality as cooperation
grows and becomes stronger, and the level of understanding
becomes better," he said.

The leaders have also agreed on ASEAN taking the driver's seat
in shaping the evolution of the community through the East Asia
Summit. The ASEAN Secretariat General in Jakarta will pick up
where the leaders left off in preparing the reports and compiling
suggestions for the establishment of this community.

Abdullah disclosed that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who
came here for the first ASEAN-Russia summit, had put in a request
for Russia to become a full member, and that EAS leaders had
agreed for Russia to participate in the second EAS next year.

ASEAN has set three conditions for non-East Asian countries to
join: that they sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, that
they have dialog partner status with ASEAN, and that they have
"substantial" relationships with the group.

The EAS has not closed its doors on others wanting to take
part, he said in response to a question. "We have clear criteria.
If other countries want to join, we will look into that."

The establishment of an East Asia community through this
process was seen as a compromise following disagreements among
the countries of East Asia proper over whether such a community
should be strictly defined by geography or not.

"We recognized that the East Asian community is a long-term
goal that would contribute to the maintenance of peace, security,
prosperity and progress in the region and beyond," reads the
joint declaration issued after the summit.

ASEAN, China, Japan and Korea had already been working on an
East Asian community through what they call the ASEAN Plus Three
(APT) process.

"We also agreed that the East Asian region had already
advanced in its efforts to realize an East Asian community
through the ASEAN+3 process. In this context, we believe that
the EAS together with the ASEAN+3 and the ASEAN+1 processes could
play a significant role in community-building in the region."