East Asia Summit: new mode for regional co-op (Xinhua) Updated: 2005-12-16 09:20
The inaugural East Asia Summit (EAS) is a new mode for regional cooperation
that leads the east Asian cooperation into a new era, experts said in
Beijing Friday.
Zhang Xizhen, professor on international relations from the elite Beijing
University, said the biggest outcome of the summit is "creating a new mode for
regional integration that differs from the mechanism of other regions".
The core member of the nascent mechanism is ASEAN, an association composed of
small- and medium-sized nations. "This is a major difference from many regional
cooperation organizations like the European Union and the North American Free
Trade Area, "said Zhang.
Besides, the participants of the summit are not only from the 10-member ASEAN
as well as China, Japan and Republic of Korea, but also include India, Australia
and New Zealand, three countries that are geographically located outside east
Asia.
The Kuala Lumpur Declaration issued at the gathering clearly stated that the
summit will be an "open, inclusive, transparent and outward-looking forum" with
ASEAN as "the driving force working in partnership with the other participants,"
the professor said.
"The reason that the EAS comes into a wide-open mechanism is the result of
the region's own characteristics, including the imbalanced development in the
fields of politics, economy, culture and others among the member countries
within the ASEAN,"said Zhang.
Professor Su Hao from China Foreign Affairs University held that the summit,
drawing great attention of the world to east Asia, embodies the region's key
position in the international arena.
"The summit builds a new platform for promoting east Asian cooperation, and
at the same time, provides major countries in the region the chances to enhance
coordinating relations,"said Su.
It also exerts positive influence on the cooperation between China and other
countries in the region, and helps to reduce doubts over China's rapid
development, Su said.
The summit was held on Wednesday in the Malaysian capital of Kuala
Lumpur,
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