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.