Lilian Budianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 04/09/2010 11:38 AM
China welcomes the expansion of the East Asia Summit (EAS) to include the US and Russia, but regional integration should remain driven by ASEAN+3 (APT), says the Chinese envoy.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Zhang Qiyue responded to Jakarta’s proposal to include the US and Russia in the EAS, which consists of 10 ASEAN members plus China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
“We are quite open to new ideas and initiatives [to expand the EAS] but we already have the APT in place, which has more mature mechanisms and is working very well,” said Zhang.
“This should be further developed and at the same time we welcome other initiatives... because we think the cooperation framework of this region could be multi-tiered, considering there are lots of different issues to tackle.”
The APT, consists of the 10 ASEAN members plus China, Japan and South Korea, and is said to be the main success of ASEAN. APT has not only managed to create political stability after decades of historical hostilities between China, Japan and South Korea, but also established a currency swap arrangement providing US$120 billion for liquidity emergencies under the Chiang Mai Intiative Multilateralization.
“EAS is more for strategic dialogue and discussion; the APT is more for concrete steps for integration... We are still making a lot of efforts in making this whole area more tightly integrated,” said Zhang.
China has been looking to better integrate East Asian countries through a free trade zone among the APT members as well as in politics and security, including maritime security in the piracy-prone Malacca Straits.
Observers said Jakarta’s new move to include the US and Russia might be resisted by China because both powers have been at odds with each other, from trade disputes to human rights issues.
The absence of the US in the regional grouping amid the rise of China has prompted the enlargement of EAS although leaders in EAS have previously veered away from admitting new members, saying they did not want to make “a mini UN”.
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the inclusion of the US and Russia was to prevent “a domination of a single power” inside the EAS.
When asked about the position of EAS in the integration of East Asia, Zhang said “I don’t want to say on which tier is the APT or EAS in the integration of East Asia but it is agreed that APT is more developed and established and we have to do further work on it.”
In the interview, Zhang said relations between Indonesia and China ties would go beyond bilateral cooperation as both share many similar views on international issues.
“We have worked very closely on issues of the UN, climate change, development of trade in the WTO, Middle East and Indonesia-China relations. Both of us are now member of G20 and we have very close contacts with the G20.”
Zhang said bilateral relations with Indonesia had been advancing well since the signing of the strategic partnership in 2005.
Indonesia and China will observe the historic 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations on April 13, which will be celebrated during the visit of Premier Wen Jiabao to Jakarta in late April.
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