East Asian Community
Encyclopedia
East Asian Community is a proposed trade bloc
for the East Asia
countries that may arise out of either ASEAN Plus Three or the East Asia Summit
(EAS).
community within East Asia
has had a long history. Beginning in the 1940s, Japan
ese occupation in East Asia was followed up by the creation of an Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere
consisting of Asia
n nations. This idea was unsuccessful as it largely existed as an ideology to allow Japan to exploit the rest of Asia and partly instigated the Pacific theatre
of World War II
. However, the intention of Asian integration
did not end following the Japanese defeat.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) was formed on 8 August 1967 by the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand
, Indonesia
, and Singapore
, as a display of solidarity against communist expansion in Vietnam
and insurgency within their own borders.
In 1990, Malaysia proposed a creation of an East Asia Economic Caucus
composed of the then-members of ASEAN (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand), the Peoples' Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea. This was also a failure since it faced strong objections from Japan and the United States
After a series of failures, ASEAN and its neighbors created another regional grouping the ASEAN Plus Three, established in 1997 and institutionalised in 1999. The significance of this grouping was demonstrated in the response to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. ASEAN Plus Three appeared to take the role of community building in East Asia.
In 1999, a Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation was issued on the topic of East Asian integration by ASEAN.
In 1998, ASEAN Plus Three established The East Asian Vision Group of eminent persons which reported in 2001. In turn in 2001 the East Asian Study Group was established. In 2002, ASEAN Plus Three received the Final Report of the East Asian Study Group. This included a recommendation to establish an East Asia Summit
.
As a result, the status of ASEAN Plus Three is unclear with the existence of the more recent East Asia Summit
established in 2005 following this process and involving all the members of ASEAN Plus Three, together with India
, Australia
and New Zealand
, otherwise known as ASEAN Plus Six.
After the first EAS the feasibility of EAS to have a community building role was questioned with Ong Keng Yong
, the secretary-general of ASEAN being quoted as describing the EAS as little more than a "brainstorming forum"
Nevertheless the Chairman’s Press Statement for the Seventh ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Kuala Lumpur, 26 July 2006 said
It appeared that over time following the first EAS the focus was less on whether the EAS has a role in community building than on what the role was and whether it was secondary to ASEAN Plus Three. By mid-2006 the Chinese news site Xinhua Net suggested the community would arise through a two-phase process with ASEAN Plus Three as the first phase and the EAS as the second phase. The China-India joint declaration of 21 November 2006 linked, at paragraph 43, the EAS with the East Asian Community process.
The concentric circle model of the community process with ASEAN at the centre, ASEAN Plus Three at the next band and the East Asia Summit at the outer band is supported by the Second Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation Building on the Foundations of ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation which said:
The Chairman's Statement of the 3rd East Asia Summit Singapore, 21 November 2007 also states:
A first stage of a future community may be seen in the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia
(CEPEA) proposed by Japan for the members of the East Asia Summit. The reality appears however that movement towards such a relationship is a long way off. Lee Kuan Yew
has compared the relationshiop between South-East Asia and India with that of the European Community and Turkey
, and has suggested that a free-trade area involving South-East Asia and India is 30 to 50 years away.
campaign. After the change of government in Japan the details of what Japan was proposing was unclear.
The Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada
in early October 2009 indicated that what was proposed was a Community based on the members of the East Asia Summit focusing on political links with a common currency "very far off in the future". The Japanese proposal is for a regional trade grouping. This proposal was based on the 16 member countries of the East Asia Summit.
The subsequent ASEAN Plus Three and East Asia Summit
meetings did not clarify what role or shape the community would have.
The Chairman's Statement for the ASEAN Plus Three meeting stated:
ASEAN Plus Three was noted as "a" main vehicle whereas earlier language had been "the".
The Chairman's Statement Fourth East Asia Summit stated:
In addition to these proposals India
also has its proposal for an Asian Economic Community.
(9 April 2010) stated:
By mid-2010 the leaders of the three nations referred to in the October 2009 statement had all changed: Japan and Australia had changed Prime Ministers due to internal political issues and the Philippines had gone through a Presidential election for which the incumbent was ineligible. ASEAN nevertheless continued to discuss the issues of regional structures.
Some have linked the EAS with a future broader Asian Economic Community like the European Community. However some commentators see this an overly optimistic vision and it is plainly in the very distant future if it is to occur - the European Community has taken decades to reach its current shape, had greater early drive for its creation and more coherence between its members (ASEAN alone is composed of democracies, dictatorships, capitalist tax havens and communist states).
On any view community building is not a short term project. However after the second EAS the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was confident that the EAS would lead to an East Asia Community. China had also apparently accepted this was the case.
If achieved the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia
(CEPEA) would be a tangible first step in the community building process. The Second EAS
and Third EAS seems to have increased confidence in CEPEA but is still only a proposal.
For the moment currency union, as distinct from the Asian Development Bank
proposed Asian Currency Unit, is not even being pursued within ASEAN, much less the broader members of the EAS.
), and ASEAN Free Trade Area
.
It is economics perhaps more than anything else which is driving the discussion. The India
n External Affairs Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee
was quoted as saying in February 2007:
A view also supported by the Indian Defence Minister Shri A.K.Antony
the next day:
Hence it can be seen that fear of large international trading blocs is driving this discussion.
The Third EAS approved the establishment of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia
to further investigate economic integration between the EAS members.
The Japanese Government has proposed an exchange program over the five years from 2007 to 2011 with up to 6,000 youths per annum visiting Japan from EAS member countries.
Japan: competition between Japan and China over leadership roles help to foster the formation of an East Asian Community by encouraging ASEAN and South Korea to become more unified.
China: The contrast between Japan and China is each respective nation’s idea of membership inclusion: Japan favors an ‘open and inclusive’ concept that favors India, Australia, and New Zealand, while China’s preference is to construct an East Asian Community with exclusively East Asian members. China’s criticisms of Japan is that Japan prefers “institutionalism,” (what China regards as heavily influenced by the U.S.), while China prefers Asian-styled gradualism.
India: Since India is not in East Asia, its membership in the East Asian Community will pull the EAC back into ‘Asia’ and away from the ‘Pacific orientation’ that dominated economic communities like APEC.
Australia: Australia’s economic and geo-strategic security are linked with the East Asian region, therefore it is eager to join the East Asian Community. However, at the East Asian Summit in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005, Australia emphasized the need to include the U.S. in the East Asian Community for security reasons.
Similarly, in Kitti Prasirtsuk’s article, “Japan’s Vision of an East Asian Community: A Perspective from Thailand,” the author gives three reasons for Thailand’s support for Japanese efforts for building an East Asian Community. These include the Japan-ASEAN comprehensive Economic Partnership (JACEP), capacity building, and financial cooperation. Thailand’s support for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Japan is due to perceived economic and political gains through having many Free Trade Areas (FTA). By becoming a development partner with Japan, Thailand can benefit from the foreign aid known as the Official Development Assistance (ODA). In financial cooperation with Japan, Thailand proposed the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), in order to prevent another financial crisis. Ultimately, Thailand’s support for either Japan or China (in their vision of an East Asian Community) rests on the perceived benefits to its national interests.
Trade bloc
A trade bloc is a type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where regional barriers to trade, are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.-Description:...
for the East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
countries that may arise out of either ASEAN Plus Three or the East Asia Summit
East Asia Summit
The East Asia Summit is a forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian region. Membership will expand to 18 countries including the United States and Russia at the Sixth EAS in 2011. EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings...
(EAS).
Prior to the EAS
The idea of establishing a tradeTrade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
community within East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
has had a long history. Beginning in the 1940s, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese occupation in East Asia was followed up by the creation of an Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a concept created and promulgated during the Shōwa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan. It represented the desire to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers"...
consisting of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n nations. This idea was unsuccessful as it largely existed as an ideology to allow Japan to exploit the rest of Asia and partly instigated the Pacific theatre
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. However, the intention of Asian integration
Pan-Asianism
Pan-Asianism is an ideology or a movement that Asian nations unite and solidify and create a continental identity to defeat the designs of the Western nations to perpetuate hegemony.-Japanese Asianism:...
did not end following the Japanese defeat.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated ASEAN rarely ), is a geo-political and economic organization of ten countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, membership has...
(ASEAN) was formed on 8 August 1967 by the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, as a display of solidarity against communist expansion in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and insurgency within their own borders.
In 1990, Malaysia proposed a creation of an East Asia Economic Caucus
East Asia Economic Caucus
The East Asia Economic Caucus or East Asia Economic Group was a regional free trade zone proposed in 1990 by former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad and encompasses the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, China, South Korea and Japan...
composed of the then-members of ASEAN (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand), the Peoples' Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea. This was also a failure since it faced strong objections from Japan and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
After a series of failures, ASEAN and its neighbors created another regional grouping the ASEAN Plus Three, established in 1997 and institutionalised in 1999. The significance of this grouping was demonstrated in the response to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. ASEAN Plus Three appeared to take the role of community building in East Asia.
In 1999, a Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation was issued on the topic of East Asian integration by ASEAN.
In 1998, ASEAN Plus Three established The East Asian Vision Group of eminent persons which reported in 2001. In turn in 2001 the East Asian Study Group was established. In 2002, ASEAN Plus Three received the Final Report of the East Asian Study Group. This included a recommendation to establish an East Asia Summit
East Asia Summit
The East Asia Summit is a forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian region. Membership will expand to 18 countries including the United States and Russia at the Sixth EAS in 2011. EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings...
.
As a result, the status of ASEAN Plus Three is unclear with the existence of the more recent East Asia Summit
East Asia Summit
The East Asia Summit is a forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian region. Membership will expand to 18 countries including the United States and Russia at the Sixth EAS in 2011. EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings...
established in 2005 following this process and involving all the members of ASEAN Plus Three, together with India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, otherwise known as ASEAN Plus Six.
Subsequent to the EAS
After the EAS was established the issue arose of whether any future East Asia Community would arise from the EAS or ASEAN Plus Three. Malaysia felt that it was still the case that the role of the community building fell to ASEAN Plus Three shortly before the second EAS despite "confusion". China apparently agreed whereas Japan and India felt the EAS should be the focus of the East Asian Community.After the first EAS the feasibility of EAS to have a community building role was questioned with Ong Keng Yong
Ong Keng Yong
Ong Keng Yong is a Singaporean diplomat. He was the Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from 2003 to 2007....
, the secretary-general of ASEAN being quoted as describing the EAS as little more than a "brainstorming forum"
Nevertheless the Chairman’s Press Statement for the Seventh ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Kuala Lumpur, 26 July 2006 said
25. The Ministers welcomed the convening of the East Asia Summit as a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic issues of common interest with the aim of promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in East Asia. In this respect, they recognized that the East Asia Summit could make a significant contribution to the achievement of the long-term goal of establishing an East Asian community.
It appeared that over time following the first EAS the focus was less on whether the EAS has a role in community building than on what the role was and whether it was secondary to ASEAN Plus Three. By mid-2006 the Chinese news site Xinhua Net suggested the community would arise through a two-phase process with ASEAN Plus Three as the first phase and the EAS as the second phase. The China-India joint declaration of 21 November 2006 linked, at paragraph 43, the EAS with the East Asian Community process.
The concentric circle model of the community process with ASEAN at the centre, ASEAN Plus Three at the next band and the East Asia Summit at the outer band is supported by the Second Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation Building on the Foundations of ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation which said:
III. Looking Forward to a Decade of Consolidation and Closer Integration (2007-2017)
A. Defining the Objectives and Roles of the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation in the Emerging Regional Architecture
1. We reaffirmed that the ASEAN Plus Three Process would remain as the main vehicle towards the long-term goal of building an East Asian community, with ASEAN as the driving force.
...
3. We recognised and supported the mutually reinforcing and complementary roles of the ASEAN Plus Three process and such regional fora as EAS, ARF, APEC and ASEM to promote East Asian community building.
4. We reiterated that East Asian integration is an open, transparent, inclusive, and forward-looking process for mutual benefits and support internationally shared values to achieve peace, stability, democracy and prosperity in the region. Guided by the vision for durable peace and shared prosperity in East Asia and beyond, we will stand guided by new economic flows, evolving strategic interactions and the belief to continue to engage all interested countries and organisations towards the realisation of an open regional architecture capable of adapting to changes and new dynamism.
The Chairman's Statement of the 3rd East Asia Summit Singapore, 21 November 2007 also states:
21. We stressed our conviction that the EAS should continue to help build a united and prosperous East Asia, with ASEAN as the driving force working in close partnership with other participants of the East Asia Summit. We reaffirmed that the East Asia Summit is an important component of the emerging regional architecture and would help build an East Asian community. It should play a complementary and mutually reinforcing role with other regional mechanisms, including the ASEAN dialogue process, the ASEAN Plus Three process, the ARF, and APEC in community building efforts.
A first stage of a future community may be seen in the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia
Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East ASIA is a Japanese led proposal for trade co-operation, free trade agreement, among the 16 present member countries of the East Asia Summit.- Countries involved :The 16 countries are:...
(CEPEA) proposed by Japan for the members of the East Asia Summit. The reality appears however that movement towards such a relationship is a long way off. Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
has compared the relationshiop between South-East Asia and India with that of the European Community and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, and has suggested that a free-trade area involving South-East Asia and India is 30 to 50 years away.
Japanese proposals in 2009
The concept of the community, if not the details, was promoted during the Japanese general election, 2009Japanese general election, 2009
A general election in Japan was held on August 30, 2009, for all 480 seats of the House of Representatives of Japan, the lower house of the Diet of Japan....
campaign. After the change of government in Japan the details of what Japan was proposing was unclear.
The Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada
Katsuya Okada
is a Japanese politician. A member of the House of Representatives of Japan, he is Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Japan and was previously its President. From September 2009 to September 2010, he was Foreign Minister of Japan....
in early October 2009 indicated that what was proposed was a Community based on the members of the East Asia Summit focusing on political links with a common currency "very far off in the future". The Japanese proposal is for a regional trade grouping. This proposal was based on the 16 member countries of the East Asia Summit.
The subsequent ASEAN Plus Three and East Asia Summit
East Asia Summit
The East Asia Summit is a forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian region. Membership will expand to 18 countries including the United States and Russia at the Sixth EAS in 2011. EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings...
meetings did not clarify what role or shape the community would have.
The Chairman's Statement for the ASEAN Plus Three meeting stated:
20.We reaffirmed our commitment to the ASEAN Plus Three process as a main
vehicle towards the long-term goal of building an East Asian community with
ASEAN as the driving force. We noted Japan’s aspiration to reinvigorate the
discussion towards building an East Asian community based on the principle
of openness, transparency and inclusiveness and functional cooperation.
ASEAN Plus Three was noted as "a" main vehicle whereas earlier language had been "the".
The Chairman's Statement Fourth East Asia Summit stated:
21.We acknowledged the importance of regional discussions to examine
ways to advance the stability and prosperity of the Asia Pacific region.
In this connection, we noted with appreciation the following:
(a) the Philippines’s proposal to invite the heads of other regional fora
and organizations in Asia-Pacific to future EAS meetings to
discuss measures that will protect the region from future economic
and financial crisis and strengthen Asia economic cooperation,
including through the possible establishment of an economic
community of Asia.
(b) Japan’s new proposal to reinvigorate the discussion towards
building, in the long run, an East Asian community based on the
principle of openness, transparency and inclusiveness and
functional cooperation.
(c) Australia’s proposal on the Asia Pacific community in which
ASEAN will be at its core, will be further discussed at a 1.5 track
conference to be organized by Australia in December 2009.
In addition to these proposals India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
also has its proposal for an Asian Economic Community.
2010
The Chairman's Statement of the 16th ASEAN SummitASEAN Summit
The ASEAN Summit is an annual meeting held by the member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in relation to economic, and cultural development of Southeast Asian countries....
(9 April 2010) stated:
ASEAN’s External Relations
40. We expressed our overall satisfaction with the progress in ASEAN’s cooperation with external partners within the frameworks of ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3 and East Asia Summit processes. We appreciated the valuable support and financial assistance accorded to ASEAN by its external partners.
41. We reaffirmed the importance of ASEAN’s cooperation with external partners in maintaining peace and stability in the region, enhancing ASEAN’s internal regional integration, narrowing the development gap, enhancing intra-ASEAN connectivity and expanding ASEAN’s connectivity to the wider region.
42. Emphasizing the need to successfully conclude action plans/work programmes, cooperation agreements in trade, economic and socio-cultural fields with ASEAN’s dialogue partners, we tasked our sectoral Ministers to work closely with their external partners towards that aim.
43. We recognized and supported the mutually reinforcing roles of the ASEAN+3 process, the East Asia Summit (EAS), and such regional forums as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), to promote the East Asian cooperation and dialogue towards the building of a community in East Asia. In this connection, we encouraged Russia and the US to deepen their engagement in an evolving regional architecture, including the possibility of their involvement with the EAS through appropriate modalities, taking into account the Leaders-led, open and inclusive nature of the EAS.
By mid-2010 the leaders of the three nations referred to in the October 2009 statement had all changed: Japan and Australia had changed Prime Ministers due to internal political issues and the Philippines had gone through a Presidential election for which the incumbent was ineligible. ASEAN nevertheless continued to discuss the issues of regional structures.
The nature of the East Asia Community
The shape of the East Asia Community remains something to be defined in the future. The issues being explored at this stage deal with whether there will be a Community which must be resolved prior to understanding what it will look like.Some have linked the EAS with a future broader Asian Economic Community like the European Community. However some commentators see this an overly optimistic vision and it is plainly in the very distant future if it is to occur - the European Community has taken decades to reach its current shape, had greater early drive for its creation and more coherence between its members (ASEAN alone is composed of democracies, dictatorships, capitalist tax havens and communist states).
On any view community building is not a short term project. However after the second EAS the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was confident that the EAS would lead to an East Asia Community. China had also apparently accepted this was the case.
If achieved the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia
Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East ASIA is a Japanese led proposal for trade co-operation, free trade agreement, among the 16 present member countries of the East Asia Summit.- Countries involved :The 16 countries are:...
(CEPEA) would be a tangible first step in the community building process. The Second EAS
Second EAS
The East Asia Summit is a pan-Asia forum held annually by the leaders of 16 countries in the East Asian region. EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings.- Second summit :...
and Third EAS seems to have increased confidence in CEPEA but is still only a proposal.
For the moment currency union, as distinct from the Asian Development Bank
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia...
proposed Asian Currency Unit, is not even being pursued within ASEAN, much less the broader members of the EAS.
Economic aspects
The idea of a pan-Asian trading bloc has been proposed given the potential for the economic benefits that may be produced from such structures in light of the success of European Community (now the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
), and ASEAN Free Trade Area
ASEAN Free Trade Area
ASEAN Free Trade Area is a trade bloc agreement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations supporting local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries....
.
It is economics perhaps more than anything else which is driving the discussion. The India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n External Affairs Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee
Pranab Mukherjee
Pranab Kumar Mukherjee is the current Finance Minister of India and leader of the current Lok Sabha.Mukherjee is a senior member of the Cabinet Committees on Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Prices, Security, Unique Identification Authority of India,...
was quoted as saying in February 2007:
Speaking at the SummitEast Asia SummitThe East Asia Summit is a forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian region. Membership will expand to 18 countries including the United States and Russia at the Sixth EAS in 2011. EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings...
, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan SinghManmohan SinghManmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...
said that the long term goal of the EAS should be the creation of a harmonious and prosperous community of nations that would pool its resources to tackle common challenges. He also observed that a virtual Asian Economic Community was emerging with the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) amongst countries of the region. However, there is a need for a wider perspective so that ongoing processes could become building blocks for a larger vision. It was in this context that we have suggested a Pan-Asian Free Trade Arrangement that could be the starting point for an Economic Community. Such a community would be the third pole of the world economy after the European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA).
A view also supported by the Indian Defence Minister Shri A.K.Antony
A. K. Antony
Arackaparambil Kurien Antony is an Indian National Congress politician, a former Chief Minister of Kerala, and the current Defence Minister of India....
the next day:
In the regional context, the contours of an Asian economic integration are beginning to take shape. The East Asia Summit (EAS) has gathered a self-sustaining momentum towards the creation of an East Asian Community in the coming years. It may even lead to a larger Asian solidarity, as envisioned by Pandit Nehru in the early 1950s.We perceive the comprehensive interaction with South-East Asia as a vehicle for regional growth. It will eventually lead to prosperity and true peace in the entire region.
However, economic progress and social development will need a conducive environment for growth, particularly in terms of regional stability and security. The end of the Cold War did provide the necessary systemic conditions, but it was at best only a transitional phase. Over the last few years, the region as a whole has witnessed a steady realignment of geo-strategic equations.
Hence it can be seen that fear of large international trading blocs is driving this discussion.
The Third EAS approved the establishment of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia
The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia or ERIA is a policy think tank proposed by Japan arising out of the East Asia Summit, proposed at the Second EAS and approved at the Third EAS. ERIA aims; to facilitate ASEAN Economic Community building; to support ASEAN's role as the driver...
to further investigate economic integration between the EAS members.
Cultural differences
The cultural, religious, language and ethnic groupings in the EAS are diverse. There is also great disparity in the size and level of development in the economies and in the populations of the nations involved. Plainly the level of support within the EAS for such an ambitious role for the EAS is mixed.The Japanese Government has proposed an exchange program over the five years from 2007 to 2011 with up to 6,000 youths per annum visiting Japan from EAS member countries.
Cultural Perspectives
At the 14th Japanese Studies Association of Australia conference held at the University of Adelaide in July 2005, the topic was ‘Japan’s Vision of an East Asian Community: Responses from Asia,’ where different regional perspectives concerning the East Asian Community were given.Japan: competition between Japan and China over leadership roles help to foster the formation of an East Asian Community by encouraging ASEAN and South Korea to become more unified.
China: The contrast between Japan and China is each respective nation’s idea of membership inclusion: Japan favors an ‘open and inclusive’ concept that favors India, Australia, and New Zealand, while China’s preference is to construct an East Asian Community with exclusively East Asian members. China’s criticisms of Japan is that Japan prefers “institutionalism,” (what China regards as heavily influenced by the U.S.), while China prefers Asian-styled gradualism.
India: Since India is not in East Asia, its membership in the East Asian Community will pull the EAC back into ‘Asia’ and away from the ‘Pacific orientation’ that dominated economic communities like APEC.
Australia: Australia’s economic and geo-strategic security are linked with the East Asian region, therefore it is eager to join the East Asian Community. However, at the East Asian Summit in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005, Australia emphasized the need to include the U.S. in the East Asian Community for security reasons.
Similarly, in Kitti Prasirtsuk’s article, “Japan’s Vision of an East Asian Community: A Perspective from Thailand,” the author gives three reasons for Thailand’s support for Japanese efforts for building an East Asian Community. These include the Japan-ASEAN comprehensive Economic Partnership (JACEP), capacity building, and financial cooperation. Thailand’s support for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Japan is due to perceived economic and political gains through having many Free Trade Areas (FTA). By becoming a development partner with Japan, Thailand can benefit from the foreign aid known as the Official Development Assistance (ODA). In financial cooperation with Japan, Thailand proposed the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), in order to prevent another financial crisis. Ultimately, Thailand’s support for either Japan or China (in their vision of an East Asian Community) rests on the perceived benefits to its national interests.