East Asia summit ends with Japan-China handshake

By George Nishiyama and Robin Paxton

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – East Asia’s first summit of
leaders ended on Wednesday with an agreement to hold annual
talks on strategic issues such as trade and security — and a
rare handshake between the leaders of Japan and China.

The gesture, after months of feuding between Asia’s two
biggest economies over their wartime past, came after 16
leaders signed a declaration calling for annual talks on issues
that also included health scares such as bird flu and energy
security.

“We have all agreed that East Asian community will be a
reality in the future,” Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi, who chaired the half-day talks, told reporters.

But he drew a distinction between what he saw as the core
members of an East Asian community — Southeast Asia and North
Asia — and countries such as India, Australia and New Zealand,
which he said did not belong geographically in East Asia.

“I don’t know how the Australians will regard themselves as
East Asians, or New Zealanders for that matter,” he said,
adding these countries instead shared common interests with
East Asia.

The summit brought together leaders of the 10 Southeast
Asian nations that convened it, plus China, Japan, South Korea,
India, Australia and New Zealand — a gathering that
represented about half the world’s population and a fifth of
global trade.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a brief speech to the
summit, and stated Moscow’s desire to become an official
member, a Japanese official told reporters. A decision on
Russia’s inclusion in the summit is to be made next year,
Abdullah said.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he had assured the summit
of his country’s commitment to peaceful development and
downplayed concerns Beijing might want to dominate the new
forum, noting that U.S. allies Japan and Australia were
members.

“It should be open, welcoming Australia, New Zealand, India
and Russia’s participation and also strengthens the contact
between the U.S., the EU and other countries,” Wen told
reporters.

“That way it will give more meaning to the East Asia
summit.”

OLD WOUNDS

The summit had fueled speculation that it would take the
first step toward a huge pan-Asian free-trade area. But
expectations were set low, partly due to Japan-China bickering.

On Wen’s handshake with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said:
“Everybody saw clearly what happened at the meeting place, but
China’s attitude toward the question of history between China
and Japan has not changed.”

That was a reference to Koizumi’s visits to Tokyo’s
Yasukuni shrine which honors some convicted war criminals along
with Japan’s 2.5 million war dead — the heart of the dispute.

Koizumi told reporters he did not understand the criticism.

“I go to the Yasukuni shrine to express my feelings that we
should, reflecting on World War Two, never again stage war, and
at the same time, to pay respects for those who lost their
lives on the battlefield.” he said.

“I have absolutely no intention to glorify or justify the
past war.”

There was also summit tension over whether India, Australia
and New Zealand would share the driving seat of an East Asian
community or, in the words of an Indian diplomat, be
passengers.

The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN), which called the summit to build bridges with the rest
of Asia, has made clear it wants Japan, China and South Korea
alongside it in the driving seat of an East Asian community.

Australia and Indonesia said ahead of the summit that the
group’s structure should be sorted out before admitting Russia.

Russia is eager to meet more of Asia’s thirst for oil and
gas and sees the region taking up to a third of its exports by
2020.

“I think what we should try and do is settle in the
existing architecture,” Australian Prime Minister John Howard
said.

Australia, a former British colony, is itself only just now
making its own entry onto the center stage of Asian diplomacy,
after plenty of debate in the region over its Asian
credentials.

Japan is seen as favoring a greater role for India,
Australia and New Zealand in the grouping, to balance out
China’s influence in the absence of the United States.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.

(Additional reporting by Clarence Fernandez, Jalil Hamid,
Ben Blanchard and Michelle Nichols)