Let's craft Asia Pacific future together, Rudd says

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged Asia Pacific countries to build their future together and ensure that the region goes through the ongoing dynamic changes and rapid integration with as little stress as possible.

"We need to plan - we need to plan with each other, rather than against each other as has often been the custom in times past," Rudd said Friday in a keynote speech that addressed his Asia Pacific community initiative.

He warned of pitfalls and potential tensions and conflicts within the region unless countries sit together to discuss their future.

"We cannot simply allow our region to drift in the face of the challenges ahead. We need to actively shape our regional future."

The two-day gathering, held in a conference hall inside Sydney's Taronga Zoo, is called a "one-and-half track" involving ministerial, think-tank and media leaders.

Rudd has already toned down from his initial proposal to set up a new institution at the head of government level, conceding that most leaders and officials in the region were already busy with various layers of regional and international level meetings.

Instead, going along with suggestions from other countries, he proposed an expansion or strengthening one of the existing regional organizations, or even a merge of two of them. He insisted, however, on the inclusion of the United States and on a more comprehensive mandate that dealt with economic, political and strategic issues in the region.

He listed the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the East Asia Summit or the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) as possible vehicles by which to implement his vision of an Asia Pacific community after some modifications.

Rudd was not the only one who had been thinking about turning the vast and rapidly growing region into one large community of nations. Japan recently mooted the idea of an East Asia Community.

While no one disputes the need for closer regional integration, the question always quickly gets bogged down by mechanism, about who is in and who is out, as well as what the most appropriate regional architecture might be.

Indonesia has not accepted or rejected Rudd's initiative but delegates from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they had come to listen before deciding on their position. Rizal Sukma of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) suggested that to start with, Asia Pacific countries that are members of the G20 could form a caucus within the elite organization.

South Korea appears to be among the first to support Rudd's community plan, with former prime minister Han Seung-soo proposing the establishment of an eminent persons group to come up with an appropriate action plan.