The inaugural East Asia Summit (EAS) is a new mode for regional cooperation that leads the east Asian cooperation into a new era, experts said in Beijing Friday.

Zhang Xizhen, professor on international relations from the elite Beijing University, said the biggest outcome of the summit is "creating a new mode for regional integration that differs from the mechanism of other regions".

The core member of the nascent mechanism is ASEAN, an association composed of small- and medium-sized nations. "This is a major difference from many regional cooperation organizations like the European Union and the North American Free Trade Area, "said Zhang.

Besides, the participants of the summit are not only from the 10-member ASEAN as well as China, Japan and Republic of Korea, but also include India, Australia and New Zealand, three countries that are geographically located outside east Asia.

The Kuala Lumpur Declaration issued at the gathering clearly stated that the summit will be an "open, inclusive, transparent and outward-looking forum" with ASEAN as "the driving force working in partnership with the other participants," the professor said.

"The reason that the EAS comes into a wide-open mechanism is the result of the region's own characteristics, including the imbalanced development in the fields of politics, economy, culture and others among the member countries within the ASEAN," said Zhang.

Professor Su Hao from China Foreign Affairs University held that the summit, drawing great attention of the world to east Asia, embodies the region's key position in the international arena.

"The summit builds a new platform for promoting east Asian cooperation, and at the same time, provides major countries in the region the chances to enhance coordinating relations," said Su.

It also exerts positive influence on the cooperation between China and other countries in the region, and helps to reduce doubts over China's rapid development, Su said.

The summit was held on Wednesday in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2005)