The Asia-Pacific is becoming the focus of international relations

The shift in focus from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean is the most significant change in international relations over the past 400 years. Although the process is still far from complete, the Asia-Pacific region emerged as the key area in the new world order during 2009. This is of vital importance. In recent centuries Europe and America were considered the center of the world, while the Asia-Pacific region was regarded as marginal. But today that picture is changing and the standing of the Asia-Pacific is rising.

The change is very noticeable. In the past, European affairs were always the most important for the United States. This year, on November 9, Europe celebrated the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest events in its history; the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since the fall of the wall, the European Union has grown from 15 countries to 27. The Europeans held a grand celebration, hoping that President Obama would attend in person. But they had to be satisfied with the presence of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile Obama set off on a trip to Asia that lasted from November 13 to November 19. Some Europeans took this to heart and bemoaned their declining status in the eyes of the US.

Meanwhile, economic integration in East Asia has been gathering pace since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Hit hard by that crisis, East Asian countries realized unity was the key to protection against future crises. They cooperated to establish an "Asia Supply Chain", which boosted trade and investment within ASEAN plus China, Japan and the ROK (the so-called 10+3). Intra-regional trade now accounts for 58 percent of the region's total foreign trade, almost 3 percent more than the equivalent figure for the North American Free Trade Area, and only 7 percent less than the EU, the world's largest integrated regional organization. The first East Asia Summit was held in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, on December 14, 2005. At the summit, the "10 plus 3" leaders signed the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the East Asia Summit and declared their long-term aim was to build an East Asian Community.

The current severe economic crisis has given additional impetus to the building of the East Asian Community. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between 10 ASEAN countries and China is scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2010, as is an ASEAN-ROK FTA in 2010 and an ASEAN-Japan FTA in 2012. All these are important steps in the construction of an East Asian Community.

Since the end of last year, a new development has been the holding of China-Japan-ROK summits outside of the 10+3 framework. State leaders from the three countries met at the first Summit in Fukuoka, Japan, last December, and at the second, in Beijing, on October 10, 2009. The economic aggregate of China, Japan and ROK amounts to 85 percent of the East Asian area (13 countries). In the past, such summits were always held during the "10+3" meetings; the separate summits held by China, Japan and ROK indicates that the three attach great importance to East Asian cooperation and are showing their determination to promote economic integration in East Asia. This will greatly advance the building of the East Asian Community.

Moreover, Japan is laying more and more emphasis on this issue. Since the Democratic Party of Japan won the general election last September, the new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has been attaching much more weight to the construction of the East Asian Community than his predecessors from the Liberal Democratic Party. By steering this course, the Japanese government hopes to slow down the decline in its influence in the changing world structure.

Since the Obama administration took office, American attention has been clearly focused on the rise of East Asia. On July 22 this year, Hillary Clinton signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) in Phuket, Thailand, during a session of ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Foreign Ministers Meeting, making the United States the TAC's 16th member state from outside the region. In addition, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, said in Beijing in October this year, that the United States would also like to join the East Asian Community, and that any security mechanisms established in Asia should consider the United States. The U.S. also expressed interest, in the light of the development of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, in establishing a "10+1" free trade zone with ASEAN.

It should be noted that as the global economy suffered its most serious recession and most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, the East Asian economy presented a generally positive picture and East Asia once again become the center of global economic growth. In the first three quarters of this year, East Asia, and especially China, achieved overall economic growth.

These facts demonstrate that the Asia-Pacific region has achieved an unprecedented status and importance in world affairs.