Fourth East Asia Summit

The Fourth East Asia Summit was rescheduled several times, had its venue changed and one attempt to hold it was cancelled due to the 2008–2009 Thai political crisis.

The summit in October 2009 was scheduled to receive a report on the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia to potentially establish the world's largest trading bloc.

[2] Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia and retired Australian diplomat Richard Woolcott were to address the summit on regional architecture and the idea of an Asia Pacific community.

[12] On 11 April 2009, anti-Thai government protesters smashed their way into the East Asian summit, forcing the Prime Minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, to cancel the meeting and evacuate foreign leaders by helicopter.

[14] Abhisit Vejjajiva later vowed legal action against anti-government protesters "who reduced a showcase Asian summit to a shambles and exposed the nation to international embarrassment".

[17] The leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea were airlifted out by their Thai hosts, whilst New Zealand Prime Minister John Key did not make it out of Bangkok airport.

[20] In early-May Thailand proposed, at a senior officials meeting, the dates of 13–14 June in Phuket, with a promise of a five kilometre "no rally zone" around the venue.

(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.