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."