Free trade to top talks among East Asian leaders
Free trade to top talks among East Asian leaders
Eileen Ng, Agence France-Presse, Phnom Penh
Southeast Asian leaders will discuss growing concerns over North Korea's nuclear capacity and lay the groundwork to create an ambitious East Asian free trade area at a summit Monday with Japan, China and South Korea, diplomats say.
The annual talks will also center on new security cooperation to curb the growing threat of terrorism following recent bloody bombings in Indonesia's Bali island and the southern Philippines, they say.
China, Japan and South Korea are due to hold initial talks among themselves on North Korea's nuclear program before raising it in Monday's summit with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"It (North Korea) is an important issue and the leaders would like to make their positions clear," Japan's foreign affairs vice minister Toshiyuki Takano told AFP.
"Economic cooperation is also very important. Terrorism will be discussed as well as some other regional issues."
Another senior official also said ASEAN leaders would state their stance on Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Diplomats say leaders are expected to adopt a report to be presented by a study group formed last year to assess plans for an East Asian summit, similar to an East Asian caucus mooted by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad a decade ago.
The proposal was shot down then by the United States amid fears it could form a protectionist trade bloc. But ASEAN last year endorsed a free-trade agreement with China and agreed to explore plans to enlarge it to include Japan and South Korea.
The report involves long-term plans for an East Asian Free Trade Area (FTA) -- a powerful alliance with a market size of over two billion people in 13 countries, an East Asian Investment Area and a regional financing facility.
For immediate measures, it calls for the creation of an East Asian Business Council, trade preferential treatment for least developed countries and a regional investment network to lure foreign capital.
The report also lists a range of development programs, especially in the areas of human resources and information technology.
The proposed East Asian FTA, if realized, would engulf a move by ASEAN and China to set up the world's largest free-trade zone by about 2010 covering 1.7 billion people and two-way trade worth US$1.2 trillion, officials say.
ASEAN will seal that FTA framework pact during a separate summit Monday with China, which will lead to tariff cuts on selected farm products by as early as 2003.
Mahathir, Asia's longest serving leader, is expected to push for plans during the summit to set up an 'ASEAN Plus Three' bureau to bring in China, Japan and South Korea in Kuala Lumpur, officials say.
The 76-year-old veteran leader's offer to host an 'ASEAN Plus Three' secretariat was rejected in July by Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, who fear it would undermine the existing ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta.
An ASEAN source said Malaysia would rally support for its proposal as a "farewell gift" to Mahathir, who is making his last ASEAN appearance before he steps down in October 2003.
ASEAN already holds various ministerial meetings with China, Japan and South Korea in the areas of finance, trade, agriculture, tourism and labor.
Under an ASEAN initiative to link their international reserves with the three countries to prevent a repetition of the 1997-98 currency crisis, 10 bilateral currency-swap agreements worth US$26.5 billion have been signed and four more are being negotiated.