The inaugural meeting of the East Asia Summit went off without a hitch last week in Kuala Lumpur - except for the rather serious fact that China and Japan were not talking to each other.
In fact, one of the bigger stories to emerge from the talks was an incident when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi needed a pen to sign the declaration of the East Asian Summit - and Premier Wen Jiabao handed him one. That was one of the few, fleeting moments of contact between the Chinese and Japanese leaders: that, and a brief handshake.
Even the host, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi of Malaysia, said: 'We are concerned about the developing dichotomy in Japan-China relations, which we consider as one of the main pillars of East Asia co-operation.'
The first East Asia Summit had been eagerly anticipated for years, but the strained relationship between two of its most important members does not bode well for the organisation.
Originally, the expectation was that it would be a meeting of the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus the three powerhouses of northeastern Asia - China, Japan and South Korea. However, Australia, New Zealand and India did not want to be left out and, ultimately, all three became founding members of the new organisation. Russia, which attended as an observer, wants to be a fully fledged member at the next meeting.
The discord between Japan on one hand, and China and South Korea on the other, was clear. For the past six years, the three countries have held meetings each year on the margins when they met Asean leaders.
This year, however, China cancelled the tripartite meetings.
