The Second East Asia Summit was held in

Mandaue Mandaue (), officially the City of Mandaue (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 364,116 people. ...

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on January 15, 2007. The

East Asia Summit The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a regional forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian and Oceanian regions, based on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations#ASEAN Plus Three and A ...

(EAS) is a pan-

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forum held annually by the leaders of 16 countries in the

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

n region. EAS meetings are held after annual

ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...

leaders' meetings.

Attending delegations

The Second East Asia Summit was to be held on December 13, 2006, in

, Philippines. After the confidence building of the First East Asia Summit, the 2006 East Asia Summit was to intended help to define the future role of the EAS, its relationship with ASEAN Plus Three and the involvement of Russia in EAS. However, in the face of Tropical Typhoon Utor the summit was postponed until January 2007. It has been rescheduled for January 15, 2007, approximately a month after the original scheduled date. The 16 countries involved were: File:PMincoffs.jpg,

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Issues for the second EAS

The meeting of EAS foreign ministers in Kuala Lumpur on July 26, 2006, identified energy, finance, education, avian flu and national disaster mitigation as the priority issues for the 2006 EAS. The Philippines, the host of the 2006 (now 2007) EAS, also said the failure of the

Doha Round The Doha Development Round or Doha Development Agenda (DDA) is the trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which commenced in November 2001 under then director-general Mike Moore. Its objective was to lower trade barriers ...

would be on the agenda.

EAS Free Trade Agreement/Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA)

In April 2006 Japan announced a proposal for an East Asian Economic Partnership Agreement (also known as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA) or the Nikai Initiative in reference to

Toshihiro Nikai is a former Japanese politician for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the leader of the LDP Shisuikai faction (informally called the Nikai faction), who served as the Secretary-General of the LDP from 2016 to 2021. He was previously the ...

in reference to the then Japanese Economic Minister) consisting of the current members of the EAS. Japan, the promoter of the concept, described it as an "East Asia

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

". Initially this was linked with a timetable for discussions to commence in 2008 and to conclude in 2010, which met with some scepticism. By August 2006 this had been refined to a Japanese proposal championed by Japanese Trade Minister

consisting of: * a fund of US$80 million to $100 million to initiate a comprehensive economic partnership (CEP) with East Asia, modelled on the OECD; and * an institution to be named the East Asia

Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia or 'ERIA'' is an international organization established in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2008 by a formal agreement among Leaders of 16 countries in the East Asian region to conduct research activiti ...

(ERIA) in an ASEAN country to research the benefits of a proposed Free Trade Agreement between the 16-members of the EAS; and * an East Asian Free Trade Agreement (EAFTA) between the EAS members. Responses were mixed. Following the discussions of EAS Foreign Minister in Kuala Lumpur on July 26, 2006, to establish the agenda for the second EAS, it appeared that the proposal as it then stood did not have sufficient support to be included as an agenda item for the second EAS. Although the Philippines, which was the host for the second EAS, said trade would be on the agenda but in terms of the then present difficulties with the

. Nevertheless, even after the meeting of the EAS Foreign Ministers Japan appeared keen to continue to discuss the idea in terms of a

Free Trade Agreement A free trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating state (polity), states. There are two types of trade agreements: Bilateralism, bilateral and Multilateralism, m ...

between the members of the EAS. India came out publicly in support of a pan-Asia

. New Zealand expressed its support. As has Malaysia.Malaysian National News Agency :: BERNAMA
Australia described the proposal as "interesting". Indonesia gave guarded support to the proposal, linking it with the proposed East Asian Community and

Asian Values Asian values is a political ideology that attempts to define elements of society, culture and history common to the nations of Southeast and East Asia, particularly values of commonality and collectivism for social unity and economic good — c ...

. ASEAN gave its support to the Japanese proposal to research the proposed EAFTA.

Ong Keng Yong Ong Keng Yong (born 6 January 1954) is a Singaporean diplomat who served as the 11th secretary-general of ASEAN between 2003 and 2007. He is currently the Executive Deputy Chairman of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Na ...

, the secretary-general of ASEAN has suggested that "it can be done", referring to an EAFTA, and estimated it would take 10 years. ASEAN as a whole seemed to have a pessimistic view as to the feasibility of the idea at 2006. Japan nevertheless said it was delighted with the positive response to the proposal. Nevertheless, China, South Korea and ASEAN were also said to have indirectly expressed scepticism about the idea. The difficulties with the ASEAN - India FTA does not augur well for a larger FTA. Japan also had to defend itself from the allegation that the proposal was advanced as a mechanism to counter China The position of China was expected by some commentators although not all agreed. China appears to prefer the narrower grouping of ASEAN plus Three for a future Free Trade Agreement. New Zealand has expressed confidence that China will support the proposal, especially if the research shows a benefit to East Asia from an EAFTA The

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

has proposed an FTA within the members of

APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economy , economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Following the success of Association of Southeast Asia ...

which may be in response to the suggestion of an FTA between the members of the EAS. Japan has suggested that the EAFTA could be used as a building block for the larger APEC FTA. The US is aggressively coming out against such a move concerned about a line down the middle of the Pacific while Asian economies are concerned about the US's ability to deliver a broad based FTA. In September 2006

was replaced as

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. Nikai's successor has pursued the Nikai initiative - Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA).

Growth in India and China ties and the Japanese thaw

In November 2006 India and China announced plans to double bilateral trade by 2010. The growing relationship between the world's two most populous nations was seen as a potential source of stability and co-operation for the region. The two countries joint declaration of November 21, 2006, agreed at paragraph 43 to "cooperate closely" in the context of the EAS. Further the change in leadership in Japan with

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

's election to the Prime Ministership of Japan in September 2006 brought about some thawing in Japan's relationship with both China and South Korea. These changes suggested the potential for different dynamics in the second EAS to the tensions in the First EAS.

Fuel stockpiles

It is proposed that an agreement to standardise rules for bio-fuels and agreements on stockpiling fuels will form part of the 2006 EAS.

Outcome of the second EAS

The outcomes are summarised in th
Statement of the Second East Asia Summit

Energy

The EAS members signed the Cebu Declaration on East Asian Energy Security, a declaration on energy security and biofuels containing statement for members to prepare, non-binding, targets.

Trade and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA)

As to trade and regional integration the following was noted in the Chair's report:

12. We welcomed ASEAN's efforts towards further integration and community building, and reaffirmed our resolve to work closely together in narrowing development gaps in our region. We reiterated our support for ASEAN's role as the driving force for economic integration in this region. To deepen integration, we agreed to launch a Track Two study on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia (CEPEA) among EAS participants. We tasked the ASEAN Secretariat to prepare a time frame for the study and to invite all our countries to nominate their respective participants in it. We welcomed Japan's proposal for an
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia or 'ERIA'' is an international organization established in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2008 by a formal agreement among Leaders of 16 countries in the East Asian region to conduct research activiti ...
(ERIA).

According to some press reports the debate as to whether there will be a trade grouping based on ASEAN Plus 3 or the EAS.India, Australia, N.Z. Will Join Trade Bloc, Ong Says (Update3) - Bloomberg
/ref> The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

has subsequently stated that it opposes any trade group in the region not involving itself. The preference of the United States appears to be a trading group based on

. The reality appears however that movement towards such a relationship is a long way-off.

Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (born Harry Lee Kuan Yew; 16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean politician who ruled as the first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. He is widely recognised ...

has compared the relationship between

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and India with that of the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, and has suggested that a free-trade area involving South-East Asia and India is 30 to 50 years away.

ERIA

The members of EAS agreed to study the Japanese proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA). As noted above the second EAS welcomed the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). The ERIA as an institute that is envisaged as a network of think-tanks to drive the study required. It was subsequently announced that the ERIA would be established in November 2007.The Brunei Times
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:East Asia Summit 02 2007 conferences 2007 in international relations 21st-century diplomatic conferences ASEAN meetings Diplomatic conferences in the Philippines Metro Cebu January 2007 in the Philippines 2007 in Southeast Asia 2000s political conferences