Mahathir to push for East Asian Economic Caucus

Mahathir to push for East Asian Economic Caucus

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad plans to revive his controversial proposal for an East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC) at an ASEAN summit with China, Japan and South Korea next week, a source close to the government said yesterday.

The source, who asked not to be named, said the economic and financial turmoil sweeping Asian made the idea all the more timely.

"The prime minister is expected to stress the importance of the EAEC to ward off future crises," he said.

"It is also ASEAN's 30th anniversary and the first time that ASEAN leaders are meeting their counterparts from the three countries, so it will be a good forum to discuss the prospects of the EAEC."

He said Japan and South Korea had both opposed the idea of calling the 12-nation gathering an "EAEC summit" due to opposition from the United States. In fact, the meeting will be known as the "ASEAN plus three" summit.

The source added that the EAEC acronym could even take on a different meaning given recent developments. "You can say it will be a meeting on the East Asian Economic Crisis," he quipped.

Proposed by Mahathir in 1992 when the Uruguay Round of global trade talks broke down, the EAEC is supposed to be a loose consultative forum linking ASEAN countries with China, Japan, South Korea.

Critics, notably the United States and Australia, saw it as a budding trade bloc which could undermine the broader Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), prompting the joke that EAEC stood for East Asia Excluding Caucasians.

ASEAN has nevertheless given lukewarm support to the idea while Japan has failed to commit itself.

Malaysia has meanwhile argued that the caucus could co-exist within APEC in the same way as other sub-regional groups such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Canada and Mexico or the Closer Economic Relations agreement between Australia and New Zealand.

Leaders from the nine ASEAN countries will hold talks with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and South Korean Prime Minister Koh Kun at the three- day summit starting Sunday.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.