ONE CAN ALMOST hear the tectonic plates shifting these days as the countries of East Asia head towards greater economic integration in an attempt to form a regional bloc to counter those in North America and Europe. Already, there are people talking about a future economic community. And beyond that, who knows?
'The nations of East Asia were never one,' Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said last month at a meeting of young Asian leaders in Kuala Lumpur. 'For most of history, we quarrelled with one another. For long periods, many of us also became a prey for Western powers. We could not even deliberate upon our place in the region, for our sovereignty and our capacity to decide were usurped by these powers.'
But, Mr Abdullah asserted, things are different now. 'Today, the East Asian idea is no longer contentious. It is reality. It has taken the form of an Asean-plus-three process involving the 10 Asean countries and the three largest economies in the region - Japan, China and South Korea.'
The increasing dynamism of the reality of East Asia is very much in evidence. This month in Phnom Penh, the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea met each other and the leaders of the 10 Asean countries, the sixth such Asean-plus-three exercise since 1997. And during the meeting Premier Zhu Rongji, on China's behalf, signed an agreement with Asean to set up a free-trade area by 2010.
World's largest free-trade area
This is a significant move, since it will create the world's largest free-trade area, embracing 1.7 billion people in a total economy of more than US$2 trillion (HK$15.6 trillion). Just as significantly, the day after China signed the agreement, Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signed a similar, though less specific, plan. South Korea, too, is interested in a similar arrangement.
No doubt it will be a long time before the nations of East Asia can get their acts together. In the meantime, there is a lot to be done. Asean's outgoing secretary-general, Rodolfo Severino, told the organisation's leaders in Cambodia that they needed to urgently recognise the need for regional integration, as well as making it their goal.