SINGAPORE, April 12 (UPI) -- The search for closer economic ties with and within the booming economic region of the early 21st century, Asia, is driving new international diplomacies. China and India have just signed an historic agreement seeking "a strategic partnership," and ASEAN is spreading a web of free trade agreements in all directions while mulling ever closer economic and monetary integration.
Close neighbor Australia has finally realized that its policy of neglect toward Asia has to be turned around, but its neighbors are not wholeheartedly embracing the newfound enthusiasm, still seeing with a wary eye the once self-proclaimed U.S. "deputy sheriff" in Asia.
Now at stake is Australia's participation in a whole important inaugural summit of East Asian nations scheduled to take place in December in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The summit could pave the way for the creation of an East Asian Economic Cooperation
Kids Timberland Boots, reminiscent of the European Economic Community of earlier days, which could in turn evolve into an economic and monetary union in 15 or 20 years.
The grouping is expected to become even more relevant as interest in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping, which Australia initiated in the mid-1980s
Monster iBeats, has been waning of late.
Throughout most of the 1990s, Australia and the conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard strived to move ever closer to the United States. In the process, it distanced itself from its closer Asian neighbors.
Its decision to lead a United Nations peacekeeping force into East Timor in 1999 sent its relations with Indonesia to an all-time low, as the Muslim giant saw it as an interference in its domestic affairs.
Howard's comment about Australia's acting as U.S. "deputy sheriff" in the region also antagonized Asian nations, which have more recently worried about the island continent's firm stance on reserving the right to pre-emptively strike against terrorist threats in neighboring states.
But the economic importance of Asia has become too great to ignore, and in the last couple of years, Australia has been hard at work trying to start free-trade agreement negotiations with a host of Asian countries. It signed an FTA with Singapore and Thailand, and last week it announced it would start negotiations with Malaysia.
Howard was on a diplomatic charm offensive last week as he hosted Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and Indonesia President Suliso Bambang Yudhoyono.
In both cases, the Australian prime minister sought the support of these heads of state for Australia's bid to participate in the East Asian Summit. But while Yudhoyono indicated he would support Australia's inclusion, obviously grateful for the country's immediate financial support after the December tsunami, Abdullah was more guarded, declining to endorse Australia's request.
Australia's unwillingness to join ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation has been the key stumbling block to being "admitted" to the upcoming summit, which will include the 10 ASEAN states, as well as China, Japan, South Korea.
The TAC is a non-aggression pact that dates back to the Cold War, but China, Japan, South Korea, India and even Russia have joined in recent years.
Howard has argued it is now "appropriate" for Australia to sign it, partly because the treaty was originally done in "a mindset that we've really all moved on from."
Howard said last week his country would not beg for an invitation to the summit. "We would be very happy to participate, but we are not knocking on doors begging admission," he said. "Australia is a strong, respected, involved country in the region, and that will be the case whether or not we are at this summit."
On Monday, ASEAN foreign ministers reiterated Australia and New Zealand were unlikely to be invited unless they signed the treaty, but acknowledged that India qualified and would be included.
"We hope that Australia and New Zealand, which presently have not acceded to the TAC, will agree to the TAC in the coming months. If so, we would welcome them to the EAS in Kuala Lumpur," George Yeo, Singapore foreign affairs minister, said in a statement.
The ASEAN foreign ministers will decide on and formalize the membership of the summit during the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, in July.
The ministers also agreed that ASEAN alone would decide the future members of all subsequent summits. "This is to ensure that ASEAN remains in the drivers' seat of the EAS process," Yeo said.
The news should somehow reassure the United States, which is seeking observer status for the summit, because it has been concerned China is driving the summit in its bid to build a multi-polar world and raise its profile with its neighbors.
On Tuesday, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he had discussed the ASEAN meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda over the phone and was "extremely pleased with the general direction of the statement" from the ASEAN ministers.
"There is
Beats By Dr. Dre Solo, of course, this issue of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and Indonesia's foreign minister, and I agreed we would have further
discussions about that issue over the next few weeks," Downer told Australian radio.
Political commentators were quick to point that the carefully worded statement opened the door to the country's reversing its position and signing the treaty later this year.
