Asian leaders eye bloc to boost global clout

Plans to create a huge economic bloc covering half the world's population are slowly coming to fruition through an effort that aims to boost Asia's global clout, officials and analysts said over the weekend.

The annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) concluded on Sunday in the Thai resort of Hua Hin, where Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama voiced his proposal for a so-called East Asian Community, saying that the region should aspire to "lead the world."

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also presented his vision for an Asia-Pacific Community, possibly by 2020, which includes the direct involvement of the US and measures on disaster management and climate change.

Rudd said the region showed an "openness to a discussion about how we evolve our regional architecture into the future."

"It is coming together," former ASEAN secretary-general Rodolfo Severino told AFP.

A more cohesive Asia would play a bigger role in global affairs, Severino said, especially after the region rode out the global economic crisis more quickly than the West.

"It's not just Asia coming together economically, but politically as well. The more integrated you are, the more forceful you are," said Severino, who heads the Singapore-based ASEAN Studies Centre.

During the summit, regional leaders agreed to carry out a feasibility study on a huge free-trade zone covering ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said.

A separate study on a wider grouping that would also involve India, Australia and New Zealand will be carried out in tandem, and Kasit said the two groups could combine to create "one regional cooperation on a larger scale."

But any East Asian community remains a long way off. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Xinhua News Agency that "East Asian countries differ in social and economic systems and the level of development, and it's not likely that the East Asian Community will be accomplished overnight."

Merging 16 countries into a free-trade zone is fraught with challenges, especially in sensitive areas of agriculture, Severino said, noting that Australia, India, Japan and South Korea are major farming nations.

He pointed out that several East Asian nations have already signed free-trade or economic-partnership pacts with ASEAN, which has created a "very strong foundation for an East Asia community."

Around 18,000 troops were deployed in Hua Hin after the Asian summit was twice postponed by anti-government protests, most recently when supporters of the exiled Thaksin stormed the venue in Pattaya, forcing the evacuation of VIPs.

Leaders signed pacts on Sunday on boosting integration and cooperating on global warming and tackling natural disasters. They also agreed that they should try to work out how to increase their influence in important decision-making bodies like the G20.

On the sidelines of the summit, Wen met with his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh. Both agreed to work toward narrowing differences on the countries' border dispute.

Source: Agencies