SE Asian states to boost ties with E. Asia
SE Asian states to boost ties with E. Asia
Agencies, Bandar Seri Begawan
Southeast Asian leaders and their major dialog partners, China,
Japan and South Korea, on Monday agreed to work towards closer
economic integration amid a proposal by Seoul to create a giant
East Asian free trade area.
The zone would cover more than two billion people, taking in
China, Japan and South Korea, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah
told reporters at the end of a regional summit here.
The initiative, by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, was
"bold yet feasible", the sultan said after the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit with China, Japan and
South Korea.
An East Asia free trade bloc, which would swallow a China-
ASEAN zone already under consideration, was contained in a list
of proposals from the East Asia Vision Group set up in 1999 at
Kim's urging.
In another development, the Southeast Asian leaders also
agreed on Monday to step up the fight against HIV/AIDS, the virus
and disease which have infected about 1.6 million people in the
region.
Leaders of the 10-nation Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN), in Brunei for their annual summit, issued a
declaration vowing to spend more on health services and improve
access to affordable drugs for AIDS victims.
"The declaration...rightly attaches high priority to
prevention as the mainstay response to HIV infection," Thai Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told the summit.
He said Thailand, with nearly one million people infected by
the epidemic since 1984, is one of the Asian countries hardest
hit. Around 289,000 Thais have died, he said.
ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino said leaders have
also approved a four-year program to combat the spread of AIDS in
a region of more than half a billion people.
The program includes initiating and beefing up condom
promotion and making available condoms of better quality.
The plan will target groups such as sailors and truck drivers
who are among those most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
Malaysian AIDS Council chief Marina Mahathir said it would be
more effective for ASEAN governments to unite over the issue of
drug prices.
"The drug companies will have to take notice of about 500
million people in the ASEAN countries," said Mahathir, who is the
daughter of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the leaders of China, South Korea and Japan took a
break Monday from serious political and economic discussions at a
regional meeting here to discuss music and theater.
In what officials called a joke-prevailing breakfast meeting
among the trio, opera-loving Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi recalled a traditional Chinese theater drama he saw in
Shanghai on the sidelines of a summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum last month.
Koizumi asked Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji how performers could
change their masks so quickly as South Korean President Kim Dae-
jung looked on, according to South Korean press secretary Kim
Key-man.
"Practice makes perfect," Zhu was quoted as saying.
But the Chinese premier refused to explain the secret,
quipping: "It is a sort of our intellectual propriety."
Turning to Kim, Koizumi said he was very fond of Korean music.
"I'm honorable chairman of supporters for Kye Eun-sook," he
said.
The middle-aged female Korean singer is touring Japan.
"The three leaders were fully satisfied with the summit," the
South Korean official said.