Backgrounder: 4th East Asia Summit

25/10/2009
www.chinaview.cn

HUA HIN,Thailand, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- As part of a series of summit-level meeting related to the 15th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit, the fourth East Asia Summit (EAS)was held here on Oct. 25, where leaders of the ASEAN member countries met with their counterparts from China, Japan, Republic of Korea, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

After its inaugural in 2005, the EAS has served as a forum for dialogue on broad strategic issues of relevance to East Asia as well as other regional and global issues, with the focus on regional and international issues of common interest and concern such as international terrorism, energy, infectious diseases, sustainable development, poverty reduction and others.

The first EAS was inaugurated on Dec. 14, 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and subsequent meetings were held after the annual ASEAN leaders' meetings.

The historic decision for the ASEAN to host the EAS was taken by the ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan, South Korea) Summit in November 2004.

ASEAN, established in 1967, groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Originally arranged to take place in December last year, the fourth East Asia Summit was postponed due to Thailand's political unrest. The Thai authorities later planned to host the summit in April this year, but anti-government protests again forced the cancellation of the meeting. The summit was later rescheduled for Oct. 25 this year.

During this year's EAS, leaders will discuss regional and global issues, and will possibly adopt the Statement on EAS Disaster Management, which will tap expertise in the region on disaster response and relief.

Editor: Sun Yunlong