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.