ASEAN Perspectives on a Viable Route for an East Asian Community

This article explores the viability of the APT and the APS for building a community in East Asia. The construction of a community that transcends geographical boundaries has to be anchored in common characteristics such as common interests and/or common values besides being guided by the community that is envisioned by ASEAN. Existing realities show investment and trade linkages are quite robust among the APT countries while the inclusion of Australia, India and New Zealand do not enhance these investment and trade links significantly. Formal cooperation efforts have been initiated in the APT process based on common interests such as financial stability in the region as well as non-traditional security issues while the APS process is still exploring areas of cooperation based on common interests. Common values are still evolving. Thus, based on the existing extensive economic linkages, institutions, and common interests, the APT process is the most likely mechanism for makingcommunity building in East Asian a reality.