A formation to balance power in Asia and beyond

Can Asia leverage its growing economic weight to play a more influential role in the world?

A positive answer to this question seems more likely today because regional leaders are more convinced that now is the time for an Asian community to emerge - a group that will have a defined shape and purpose, and may even be like the European Union (EU).

The 16 countries at the latest East Asia Summit in Thailand agreed to consider separate proposals from Japan and Australia on expanding regional cooperation.

Japan envisages an East Asian community comprising Japan, China, the Republic of Korea (ROK), the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus India, Australia and New Zealand.

Australia wants an even more inclusive (Asia-Pacific) community to evolve, with security and economic mandate, and the engagement of the US.

This will be a debate on the geopolitical shape of the region and the future balance of power within and beyond Asia.

The East Asian countries will hold further discussions on the proposals before agreeing to a formation.

Japan has been trying to garner other Asian countries' support to establish an East Asian community ever since Yukio Hatoyama became the prime minister. Unlike the preceding government, Hatoyama's administration seems determined to seek close but equal partnership with the US and focus more on its ties with the rest of Asia.

After Hatoyama put forward his regional integration proposal at the UN General Assembly, the US immediately opposed it, warning Japan not to exclude it from any East Asian formation.

The concept of an East Asian community, however, is not Japan's brainchild. In 1990, when the then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir proposed the "East Asian Economic Caucus" - his legendary caucus without Caucasians - the US, working closely with Japan, Australia and other countries, countered with a proposal for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

The forum, with annual meetings of regional leaders, has become a valuable platform for the US to test its foreign policy in Asia. It also serves as a policy that pre-empts the formation of any organization in the region that excludes the US.

At an APEC meeting in Busan, ROK, at the end of 2005, Washington issued a statement, vowing to sign a series of political, economic and cultural pacts with ASEAN members within 10 years and expedite talks with Seoul on a free trade area (FTA).

But US President Barack Obama, who will meet ASEAN leaders on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Singapore this weekend, should realize that institutionalization of the growing interdependence among East Asian countries dose not run counter to American interests.

Besides, a regional trade community is already being forged even without a formal community. The degree of interdependence in trade among East Asian countries has already crossed the level analogous to the European community in the 1970s. And it is more than the current interdependence among North American Free Trade Agreement members.

Countries outside the region have nothing to be alarmed about this. Instead, they have reason to rejoice because a stable system for the East Asian economic sphere would generate financial and indirect benefits for them, too.

ASEAN has vowed to have an FTA for its member states by 2010, followed by a social and political community by 2015. It has already signed free trade agreements with Japan, China and the ROK.

As Zhao Qizheng, director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference said at the recent Beijing-Tokyo Forum, the three Northeast Asian countries, which account for about 70 percent of Asia's GDP and 16 percent of the world's total output, have already made the region a vital economic powerhouse.

An economically unified East Asia will only enhance efficiency in investment in the region and the move toward integration will enable Asian markets to be more open.

As major regional players, China, Japan and the ROK should further the cause of East Asian integration. But since East Asia is not without its flashpoints, it is important that the three countries maintain a common stance on regional security.

This is going to help the US achieve its ultimate goal of reducing tension among Asian nations. In fact, one of the major US diplomatic positions of the 21st century should be to nurture further partnerships with Asia by encouraging the fostering of an East Asian community instead of just emphasizing the importance of American "presence" in the region.

A broader Asian community, however, will be more than just the sum of its parts. The fact that Asia's reach exceeds its grasp is not the only concern. There's fear, too, that the region's divisions are too formidable to overcome. That's why many experts think an East Asian community would take a route different from that of the EU.

Here, we should not forget that the EU is the result of decades of efforts and cooperation, even though there is greater diversity among East Asian countries in terms of political systems and economic gaps than in Europe.

There is much to learn from the ASEAN experience. Based on "open regionalism", ASEAN managed to create a multi-layered cooperative framework, offer a forum for Japan, China, and the ROK and discuss security issues with the US and Russia.

The cooperation between ASEAN nations and the three East Asian countries has sharpened their collective edge and brought about a sea change in regional integration. The creation of an East Asian community will not be achieved without the driving forces of ASEAN members and Japan, China and the ROK.

Forging unity and speaking with one voice has never been an easy task. The good thing, however, is that regional integration has begun despite the differences. The onus now is on the countries to devise a flexible system for cooperation that would produce tangible results, no matter how arduous the process may be.

(China Daily 11/10/2009 page9)