The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed on 8 August 1967 by the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore, as a display of solidarity against communist expansion in Vietnam and insurgency within their own borders.
Malaysia felt that it was still the case that the role of the community building fell to ASEAN Plus Three shortly before the second EAS despite "confusion".
[7] China apparently agreed whereas Japan and India felt the EAS should be the focus of the East Asian Community.
[10] The China-India joint declaration of 21 November 2006 linked, at paragraph 43, the EAS with the East Asian Community process.
We recognised and supported the mutually reinforcing and complementary roles of the ASEAN Plus Three process and such regional fora as EAS, ARF, APEC and ASEM to promote East Asian community building.
We reiterated that East Asian integration is an open, transparent, inclusive, and forward-looking process for mutual benefits and support internationally shared values to achieve peace, stability, democracy and prosperity in the region.
Guided by the vision for durable peace and shared prosperity in East Asia and beyond, we will stand guided by new economic flows, evolving strategic interactions and the belief to continue to engage all interested countries and organisations towards the realisation of an open regional architecture capable of adapting to changes and new dynamism.
[14] The Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in early October 2009 indicated that what was proposed was a Community based on the members of the East Asia Summit[15] focusing on political links with a common currency "very far off in the future".
[17] The subsequent ASEAN Plus Three and East Asia Summit meetings did not clarify what role or shape the community would have.
We noted Japan’s aspiration to reinvigorate the discussion towards building an East Asian community based on the principle of openness, transparency and inclusiveness and functional cooperation.
(b) Japan’s new proposal to reinvigorate the discussion towards building, in the long run, an East Asian community based on the principle of openness, transparency and inclusiveness and functional cooperation.
We expressed our overall satisfaction with the progress in ASEAN’s cooperation with external partners within the frameworks of ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3 and East Asia Summit processes.
In this connection, we encouraged Russia and the US to deepen their engagement in an evolving regional architecture, including the possibility of their involvement with the EAS through appropriate modalities, taking into account the Leaders-led, open and inclusive nature of the EAS.By mid-2010 the leaders of the three nations referred to in the October 2009 statement had all changed: Japan and Australia had changed Prime Ministers due to internal political issues and the Philippines had gone through a Presidential election for which the incumbent was ineligible.
[24] However, some commentators see this an overly optimistic vision[25] and it is plainly in the very distant future if it is to occur - the European Community has taken decades to reach its current shape, had greater early drive for its creation and more coherence between its members (ASEAN alone is composed of democracies, dictatorships, capitalist tax havens and communist states).
[27] If achieved the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA) would be a tangible first step in the community building process.
The Indian External Affairs Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee was quoted as saying in February 2007:[30] Speaking at the Summit, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that the long-term goal of the EAS should be the creation of a harmonious and prosperous community of nations that would pool its resources to tackle common challenges.
He also observed that a virtual Asian Economic Community was emerging with the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) amongst countries of the region.
Such a community would be the third pole of the world economy after the European Union and the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA).
Antony the next day:[31] In the regional context, the contours of an Asian economic integration are beginning to take shape.
However, economic progress and social development will need a conducive environment for growth, particularly in terms of regional stability and security.
Ultimately, Thailand's support for either Japan or China (in their vision of an East Asian Community) rests on the perceived benefits to its national interests.