Table 2 :    East Asian Nations and Growing Regionalism

 

Forums

ASEAN

10

ASEAN 7

China

Japan

RoK

DPRK & Mongolia

Hong Kong

Chinese Taipei

Mekong Countries

ASEAN+1

y

n

y

y

y

 

 

 

 

ASEAN+3

y

n

y

y

y

 

 

 

 

APEC

 

y

y

y

y

 

y

y

 

ASEM

 

y

y

y

y

 

 

 

 

GMS

 

 

y

 

 

 

 

 

y1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARF

y

n

y

y

y

y

 

 

 

EALAF

y

n

y

y

y

 

 

 

 

IDEA

y

n

y

y

y

 

 

 

 

ACD

y2

n

y

y

y

 

 

 

 

AMBDC

y

n

y

Invited

Invited

 

 

 

 

ACCORD

y

n

y

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quadrilateral

 

 

y

 

 

 

 

 

y3

MRC

 

 

Observer

 

 

 

 

 

y4

Boao Forum for Asia

y

n

y

y

y

 

 

 

 

See explanatory notes of Table 2 on the following page.

 

 

ASEAN 10 means all the 10 Member Countries of the Association.     ASEAN 7 means the older 7 Member Countries, except Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.         n   means not applicable.

 

y1  The Mekong countries in the ADB-organized Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Economic Cooperation Conference are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.   Cambodia will host the first GMS Summit in Phnom Penh on 3 November 2002 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the GMS.  The President of the ADB and the Chinese Premier have  been invited to attend.

 

EALAF is East Asia-Latin America Forum.    ASEAN, China, Japan and the RoK have teamed up to engage 17 countries in Latin America in economic cooperation consultations.

 

IDEA is Japan’s Initiative for Development in East Asia.  Japan convened the Ministerial Conference on IDEA in Tokyo on 12 August 2002.

 

y2   ACD is Thailand’s initiative on Asia Cooperation Dialogue.  Myanmar did not attend the inaugural meeting in Cha-am, Thailand, last June because of border tensions with Thailand.   Thailand will host the second ACD in Chiang Rai next year

 

ACCORD is ASEAN-China Cooperative Operations in Response to Dangerous Drugs.

 

AMBDC is ASEAN’s initiative on ASEAN-Mekong Basin Development Cooperation.  The AMBDC’s best known flagship project is the Singapore-Kumning Rail Link (SKRL).     Japan and the RoK have been invited to join the AMBDC as its core members; but both of them have declined the invitation, saying that they need more time to study the AMBDC’s activities.

 

y3  in Quadrilateral are Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and China.   The Quadrilateral are promoting, among others, river transport on and tourism along the Mekong River.

 

MRC is the Mekong River Commission based in Phnom Penh.     y 4   are Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam; China and Myanmar are Observers in the MRC.   Both China and Myanmar are seriously considering joining the MRC.

 

The Boao Forum for Asia was initiated by China.  Though it saw active participation of several government leaders, the BFA is considered as a Track II forum.