Sample Chapter - United Nations University

24 Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Mai Initiative in 2000, a network of bilateral currency swap arrangements
(which was later expanded and now has its own pool of reserves). In
1998, a proposal by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung led to the creation
of an East Asia Vision Group aimed at building an East Asian
Community, bringing the vision of East Asianism into focus.
4.3 After Cold War II (the 2000s)
(1) East Asianism and an American pivot to the Asia-Pacific region
East Asianism developed further after the turn of the millennium as the
United States threw itself into a war on terrorism following 9/11. In an
address in Singapore in 2002, Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro
set out a goal of forming an East Asian Community including Australia
and New Zealand. The question of whether to include non-APT countries
in an East Asian Community – ‌and if so, which ones – ‌was a major
political issue. China wanted to remain with APT, while Japan wanted to
include Australia and New Zealand to keep China’s influence in check,
and ASEAN wanted to include India. As a compromise, an APT meeting
and an APT+3 East Asian Summit (EAS) were held consecutively in
2005. In both it was stipulated that ASEAN would take the driver’s seat
(as regards setting agendas, for example) and APT would take the lead in
implementing an East Asian Community.
When the Obama administration took office in 2009, the United States
moved to re-engage with East Asia, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
declaring in Bangkok that “the United States is back in Southeast
Asia” (Department of State, 2009; Simon, 2009). In the first half of that
year, the United States signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in
Southeast Asia (TAC). ASEAN had required countries to enter the same
treaty as a condition of joining the EAS, and the United States’
accession thereto laid the groundwork for it to join the EAS. In 2010,
the EAS decided to add the United States and Russia as members
(resulting in ASEAN+8) starting the following year, making the EAS
no longer limited to East Asia. Slightly ahead of the EAS, the ASEAN
Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) decided in 2010 to meet once
every three years as ADMM-Plus, with the same ASEAN+8 countries.
One reason for the United States pursuing an active East Asian policy
was for economic gain (expansion of trade), and another was to prepare
for the emergence of China as a prominent major power. At the July
2010 ARF meeting, along with several ASEAN countries, the United
States took a strong stance against China for its maritime forays. Due to
strong international pressure, China seemed to back down and began restating
a peaceful rise as its basic foreign policy (Dai, 2010; State Council