Crazy new Japan wants Union of China + Japan + Korea + 10 SE Asia nations + Australia + New Zealand + India - US

Yes, that's true. Crazy new Japan is now pushing for it seriously. It is "union" that is envisaged, not just "cooperation ring."

This means creation of an integrated political/economic bloc that accounts for 1/4 of total population and 1/5 of total GDP of the world, with nuclear arsenal and space technology, let alone manufacturing base of virtually everything and important natural resources including oil and gas.

This is the craziest thing ever put forward on the diplomatic table in the world history.

(full article)
[link to www.theaustralian.news.com.au]

(excerpt)

AUSTRALIA should belong to the "East Asia community" envisaged by the new Japanese government, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said yesterday.

Whether or not the Hatoyama government's East Asian ideal encompasses Australia has been a matter of confusion in the administration's early weeks and still, "many people have many different ideas", Mr Okada said.

"However, the way I envisage this concept, it would be a community that includes Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and the ASEAN countries."

The community proposal is key to the new government's foreign policy hopes but Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has remained vague on its extent as he tries to engage China, which favours an East Asia-only grouping.

The question is likely to be high on the agenda for the China-Japan-South Korea leadership summit in Beijing this weekend.

Mr Hatoyama raised the initiative with Chinese President Hu Jintao last month and they agreed to work to further a project that Japan envisages becoming an integrated economic and political community such as the EU.

"When we look at these countries, they are in various stages of economic development and they have very diverse political systems," Mr Okada said.

"The first thing we have to look to is how we deepen our economic ties and we can already see these nations are already more deeply mutually dependent than the countries in the (North America Free Trade) agreement.

"I believe that once we have that economic foundation we can expand the relationship to encompass energy, the environment, public health, other sectors." Mr Okada said it was likely the East Asian concept would be the subject of "vigorous discussions" on Saturday when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao hosts Mr Hatoyama and South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak at a trilateral summit.

However, he denied Beijing and Tokyo were in competition to impose their different views of how the community should be developed: "We must co-operate, otherwise it won't work."

Japan's version of the East Asia community differs from Kevin Rudd's idea for an "Asia-Pacific community" in that it does not include the US. "I don't think there's an active effort to exclude anyone," Mr Okada said. "For example, Japan is not part of NAFTA and is not part of the EU and we don't think we're being excluded in any way."