Exclude India, Australia, NZ from summit: KL

Exclude India, Australia, NZ from summit: KL from summit

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Australia, New Zealand and India should be excluded from a first East Asia Summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur in December, Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday

The gathering aims to enhance cooperation between the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan, South Korea and China -- known as ASEAN-Plus-Three -- as part of a move towards an East Asian Community.

"As the East Asia Summit is one of the recommendations of the East Asia Vision Group and the East Asia Study Group, both of which are part of the ASEAN-Plus-Three process, it is only logical that the participants of the summit should be confined to the ASEAN-Plus-Three," Najib said.

The East Asia Summit was agreed at the last ASEAN meeting in Vientiane in December, where Australia, New Zealand and India were represented for the first time. The participation of those three countries in the new summit was said to be under discussion.

But Najib's speech at a two-day seminar entitled "ASEAN on the Move: Building on Success", made it clear that Malaysia would oppose their participation.

The agreement to hold the summit was seen as a victory for Malaysia, which overcame initial objections from Indonesia to achieve what is seen as a step towards realizing a 1990 proposal by then-premier Mahathir Mohamad for an East Asian Economic Caucus.

Analysts and diplomats have said a more formal East Asian Summit could replace the ASEAN-Plus-Three framework and underscore the region's seriousness in pursuing a goal to achieve a European Union-style single market and community by 2020.

Mahathir's original proposal failed to take off because of opposition from the United States which feared it would undermine the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.