Hua Hin: Dreams of creating a huge economic bloc covering half the world's population are slowly becoming a reality in a plan that would boost Asia's global clout, analysts and officials say.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama aired his proposal for a so-called East Asian Community to fellow leaders at a summit in Thailand this weekend, saying that the region should aspire to "lead the world".
The plan still lacks details and is fraught with challenges, but much of the groundwork has already been laid for a grouping that would further advance the idea of an "Asian Century", experts said.
"It is coming together," former Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) secretary general Rodolfo Severino said.
A more cohesive Asia would have a bigger role in global affairs, Severino said, especially after the region rode out the global economic crisis more quickly than the West.
"It's not just Asia coming together economically but politically as well. The more integrated you are, the more forceful you are," said Severino, who heads the Singapore-based ASEAN Studies Centre.
The foundations of any East Asian community would lie in the web of free trade agreements that the 10-member ASEAN has signed with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, October 25, 2009, 15:18