More luncheons required for the EAEC

More luncheons required for the EAEC

By Pandaya

JAKARTA (JP): Four years after it was introduced by Malaysia,
the controversial East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC) receives only
tacit support from Southeast Asian countries and is still
politely rejected by their Western allies.

During last month's Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ministerial meeting, ASEAN officials were busy trying to sell the
idea to potential members Japan, South Korea and China through
working lunches.

But, alas, the response was still lukewarm.

"So how many more working luncheons should be held before the
EAEC finally takes shape?" quipped a journalist.

All this suggests that Kuala Lumpur will need more time before
the initiative comes to fruition.

ASEAN ministers have asked their counterparts what they think
about the EAEC initiative. The Japanese reportedly maintained
that anything established must not be controversial.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen also cast doubt over the
initiative, warning that the EAEC could lead to divisions in the
Asia-Pacific region.

However, ASEAN Secretary-General Dato' Ajit Singh said in last
week's interview with Jakarta journalists that no country had
openly rejected the EAEC idea at the recent Bangkok luncheon.

"Nobody spoke against EAEC or aired their suspicion," Dato'
Ajit, whom ASEAN has assigned to explore the prospects of the
initiative, said.

Now Dato' Ajit will have to bring the EAEC matter up to the
three prospective members of ASEAN: Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia
for support. And this will take quite some time considering the
fact that ASEAN needed two years to reach consensus on the EAEC.

"We will continue to develop the concept and at the same time
continue to talk among ourselves on aspects of EAEC and how we
want to develop it," he said.

Dato' Ajit has visited a number of prospective member
countries, including Japan, China and South Korea,to ask their
ideas about the caucus initiative.

In last month's ASEAN ministerial meeting, the caucus
initiative received only tacit support, including that from
Indonesia which felt uneasy because it was not adequately
informed on the details of the initiative at the time it was
introduced.

"The foreign ministers noted the progress made in the
consultations to launch the East Asia Economic Caucus with
potential members and welcomed their valuable inputs and
suggestions. The ministers agreed that these consultations should
be continued," the ministers said in their communique.

First initiated by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhamad
in December 1990 as the Asia Economic Group (EAEG), the idea was
not well-planned at the time it was introduced, leaving other
countries grappling for details.

EAEG was meant to be a regional economic and trade clearing
house, which would not be in conflict with the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) or the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) backed by the West.

Malaysia argues that with the wealthy western states
strengthening their trade blocks, Asia-Pacific economies should
establish their own without the U.S. and Canada, which have the
NAFTA (North America Free Trade Area), and Australia and New
Zealand which already have a trading agreement.

The concept met with fierce rejection from the United States'
Bush administration, spearheaded by the then state secretary
James Baker at the 1991 APEC forum, prompting Malaysia to bring
the EAEG concept to ASEAN.

ASEAN then decided to push the EAEG concept on, realizing that
the formation of European Union and NAFTA could lead to a
protectionist trading block. Then APEC braved the American
opposition and accepted the inclusion of EAEG within it.
Washington backed the move provided that EAEG be renamed East
Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC).

ASEAN rejected the American opposition and managed to assure
Washington that EAEC would remain an informal forum for
consultations among East Asian nations and within the framework
of APEC, in which the U.S. is among the 15 members.

Australia, which -- like the U.S. -- is a strong advocate of
APEC, has also voiced skepticism about the EAEC.

"EAEC is an idea whose time has not yet come in terms of being
a distinctive, separate organization within the region. It is a
matter of waiting to see what emerges," Australian Foreign
Minister Gareth Evans says.

"At best EAEC is a distraction from APEC, at worst it is a
division within APEC," he says.

There are strong indications that ASEAN members, especially
Malaysia, will have to spare a lot more time and money to hold
more working luncheons to sell the EAEC idea before the caucus
actually comes into being.