3 - The East Asia Summit: An Overview

Summary

The possibilities of India's engagement with Asia, envisaged by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, took clear shape at the inaugural East Asia Summit (EAS) in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005. In some ways, the EAS is the successor to the 1947 Asian Relations Conference held in New Delhi as well as the 1955 Bandung Conference. Both these conferences focused on themes of Asian cooperation and Asian brotherhood. Now it is up to the heirs of Prime Minister Nehru to implement his vision for Asian cooperation.

Why is the EAS so important and so different from various preceding regional fora? After all, we have witnessed the formation of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum), ASEAN Plus Three, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), Indian Ocean Rim Cooperation, etc. The EAS is special and different because

1. • it is inter-regional, uniting the sub-regions of Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australasia;

2. • it is the first Asian grouping which includes all the great Asian powers; and

3. • it is based on open and inclusive regionalism.

India was included unequivocally since it had met the three Cebu criteria set by ASEAN, having signed the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation without delay or reservations. As a full member of the EAS, it will play a full and equal role within the EAS.

Definition of EAS Footprint

There has been some uneasiness about the geographical definition of East Asia, and India's place, since India is part of South Asia. As far as Singapore is concerned, our Senior Minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong, a good friend of India, said at the 4th Asia Pacific Round Table, held in Singapore in February 2006, that:

Globalization has meant an ever greater disconnect between physical geography and political geography. Economic space no longer coincides with political boundaries. A region is what we define it to be in terms of real political, economic, social and other connections.