East Asian Community formed

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Tokyo

Southeast Asian countries and Japan agreed on Friday to work together toward the creation of the East Asian Community which will also cover China and South Korea.

The leaders played down suggestions that the Community, aimed at enhancing prosperity and security, was a strategy to counter the rising influence of China.

The 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, however, refrained from setting a clear target to realize their vision.

Koizumi himself acknowledged that the agricultural sector would become a delicate issue between his country and ASEAN.

Japan has also pledged US$3 billion in aid to ASEAN for human resources development and to develop areas along the Mekong River over the next three years. The Greater Mekong Subregion development will link the southern Chinese city of Kunming to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The 11 leaders signed documents on a plan for the Community, an Asian version of the European Union, in the "Tokyo Declaration for the Dynamic and Enduring ASEAN-Japan Partnership in the New Millennium" and in the ASEAN-Japan plan of action.

Japan also signed a declaration of intent to sign a regional non-aggression pact, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. ASEAN expects it to be signed in mid next year. Japan had declined to sign it two months ago at the ASEAN Summit in Bali. Koizumi said Japan's commitment to ASEAN remained unchanged regardless of the Treaty but admitted Southeast Asian neighbors had urged Japan to follow in the steps of China and India to join the pact.

In a joint press conference hosted by Koizumi and President Megawati Soekarnoputri as cochairpersons of the summit, the Prime Minister said the summit had laid a strong foundation for ASEAN and Japan to step up the region's prosperity and security.

"There are more than 100 concrete measures in economic and development areas, political and security and social and cultural areas," Koizumi said.

Megawati, who confidently addressed the international media, reiterated that Japan has been and would continue to be the most important partner for ASEAN. The leaders also reiterated their determination to combat international terrorism, which Megawati said has "posed a deadly threat to regional security".

Both Megawati and Koizumi played down criticism that Japan's ambition to take a front-line role in the East Asian Community plan was more a strategy to counter China's rapidly increasing influence in Asia.

"Both ASEAN and Japan relations, and China-ASEAN relations, are for the good of East Asia in general," the President said.

Koizumi said China's progress would benefit not only Japan but the region as a whole. "China should not be taken as a threat, but rather be taken as an opportunity for Japan," he noted.

When asked about the nuclear crisis in the Korean Peninsula, Megawati replied that her special envoy Nana Sutresna was currently on a diplomatic mission to Pyongyang and Beijing in her efforts to convince North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to return to the negotiation table. Indonesia had offered to mediate in the crisis, given its long-term diplomatic ties with the communist state.

"Indonesia is of the view that differences should be addressed in order to find ways to eliminate differences, so that in the end we can find an agreement to achieve peace in this region," said Megawati.

Megawati added she hoped the next round of talks on the issue would be held as soon as possible following the talks in Beijing in August. This will involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. Hopes for new talks were dashed on Wednesday when U.S. President George W. Bush rejected offers from North Korea for a nuclear freeze, in return for major concessions.