EDITORIAL: East Asian community

Leaders of Asia-Pacific nations gathered Sunday in Thailand for an East Asia summit. It brought together representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as Japan, China and South Korea. The leaders of India and Australia also attended. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama used the opportunity to present his vision of an East Asian community.

His delivery left no doubt about his passion for this goal. The other leaders responded positively to his speech.

Following meetings Hatoyama held earlier this month with the leaders of China and South Korea, it would appear that the Asian region has a deep understanding of his vision for this part of the world.

However, ASEAN prides itself on being the central body for East Asian regional cooperation. With the start last year of regular summit meetings among the leaders of Japan, China and South Korea, ASEAN is concerned that the gravity of the discussions for regional integration might shift to the "north."

The bloc is puzzled by the rivalry between Japan and China as well as by differences in views about what role the United States could play in an East Asian community.

Hatoyama called for in-depth regional discussion that includes countries of differing value systems, working in tandem with ASEAN and with the involvement of the United States. We hope this will alleviate the concerns of ASEAN countries.

Regional integration is gaining momentum in Europe as well as North and South America. It was inevitable that calls for regional integration would also arise in East Asia.

Although the East Asian version has not yet emerged, many share the view that it would take a different route than that of the European Union.

There is much greater diversity within East Asia in terms of political systems, religions and peoples. There is also a greater economic gap. There is much to learn from the experience of ASEAN in creating a regional community in an area that is so diverse.

When ASEAN was created in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries, it was largely an anti-communist bloc. Over time, the member countries managed to overcome their conflicts concerning natural resources and territories.

After the end of the Cold War, ASEAN expanded its membership to 10 countries, including socialist Vietnam and military-ruled Myanmar (Burma). It also offered a forum for Japan, China, and South Korea so that complex issues could be discussed in a single venue. Based on its "open regionalism," ASEAN also discussed security issues with the United States, Russia and North Korea.

ASEAN managed to create such a multilayered cooperative framework because it was confident that inclusion, rather than antagonism and exclusion, would far better contribute to basic stability and prosperity. The bloc's achievements ought to be properly appreciated.

ASEAN seeks to achieve a political, security, economic, social and cultural community in 2015. We hope it will improve and enhance those functions as a regional institution. How is it going to get Myanmar to embrace democracy? We hope the recently created intergovernmental human rights commission will be allowed to grow. The region also must confront numerous issues, among them food security, eradication of poverty and development of the Mekong region. ASEAN will need to strengthen its regional problem-solving abilities.

The creation of an East Asian community will not be achieved without the driving forces of both the ASEAN members and the non-ASEAN countries of Japan, China and South Korea.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 26(IHT/Asahi: October 27,2009)