The United States was the first to take action by abandoning its "well-meant neglect" as some American political scientists and lawmakers began criticizing the East Asia Summit and East Asia Community in late 2004, calling them a challenge to US interests in East Asia. Some American economists too accused the regional cooperation concepts of "butchering the pan-Pacific economic circle".
In 2005, the Bush administration, citing lack of democracy at the East Asia Summit as an excuse, demanded that East Asian countries readjust their relevant policies.
In response to the US request, Japan gathered Australia, New Zealand and India and joined the East Asian summit together to add some "democratic elements" in the creation of the "10+6" format. However, Japan's initiative upset the US government because it overlooked the logic that "the US equals democracy" and prompted Washington to step directly into the East Asian scenario.
The Bush administration began refocusing its East Asian policy on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in the second half of 2005 by proposing the concept of an "Asian-Pacific Free Trade Zone" in an attempt to sink the East Asia Community in the Pacific Ocean.
Washington declared it was willing to sign a bilateral free trade agreement with any APEC member within the framework of APEC, except Japan. This was a complete turnaround from a few years back, when the US twice tried to talk with Tokyo about FTA only to be avoided by the latter one way or another.
The US government also put the "10+3" format under the knife. It first announced at the 2005 APEC meeting in Pusan, South Korea, it would form a political, security and economic partnership with ASEAN within 10 years and then decided to start FTA negotiations with South Korea, thus putting the "10+3" format in danger of being swallowed up and dismembered.
