Editing ASEAN (section)

===Relations with other blocs===
[[File:ASEAN with Plus 3 and Plus 6.png|thumb|upright=1.8|
{{legend|#1743a6|ASEAN}}<!-- Blue -->
{{legend|#6330d5|ASEAN Plus Three}}<!-- Purple -->
{{legend|#0d675e|ASEAN Plus Six}}<!-- Teal -->
]]

====ASEAN Plus Three====
In 1990, Malaysia proposed the creation of an [[East Asia Economic Caucus]]<ref name="caucus">[http://www.asean.org/9303.htm East Asia Economic Caucus]. ASEAN Secretariat. Retrieved 14 March 2007. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302193928/http://www.asean.org/9303.htm|date=2 March 2012}}</ref> composed of the members of ASEAN, China, Japan, and South Korea. It intended to counterbalance the growing US influence in [[Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation]] (APEC) and Asia as a whole.<ref name="oppose">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060429002757/http://asiaviews.org/?content=ger53rger567664&voices=20060125184254 Asiaviews.org]}}, Whither East Asia? Retrieved 14 March 2007.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100605002320/http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs//data/1993/upl-meta-crs-66/93-633f_1993Jun30.txt?PHPSESSID=f7a7ec622077fa19bfce9ec9def6f3d9 UNT.edu], Asia's Reaction to NAFTA, Nancy J. Hamilton. CRS – Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 14 March 2007.</ref> However, the proposal failed because of strong opposition from the US and Japan.<ref name="oppose" /><ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/1994/07/26/caucus.php IHT.com], Japan Straddles Fence on Issue of East Asia Caucus. [[International Herald Tribune]]. Retrieved 14 March 2007. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212201202/http://www.iht.com/articles/1994/07/26/caucus.php|date=12 February 2009}}</ref> Work for further integration continued, and the [[ASEAN Plus Three]],<ref name="aseanplusthree">[https://aseanplusthree.asean.org ASEAN Plus Three]</ref> consisting of ASEAN, China, Japan, and South Korea, was created in 1997.

[[ASEAN Plus Three]]<ref name="aseanplusthree" /> is a forum that functions as a coordinator of co-operation between the ASEAN and the three [[East Asia]]n nations of China, South Korea, and Japan. Government leaders, ministers, and senior officials from the ten members of the ASEAN and the three East Asian states consult on an increasing range of issues.<ref>[http://www.irchina.org/en/pdf/zxm06.pdf "The Rise of China and Community Building in East Asia"]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Zhang Xiaoming, ASIAN Perspective, Vol. 30, No. 3, 2006, pp. 129–148.</ref> The ASEAN Plus Three is the latest development of Southeast Asia-East Asia regional co-operation. In the past, proposals, such as South Korea's call for an Asian Common Market in 1970 and Japan's 1988 suggestion for an Asian Network, have been made to bring closer regional co-operation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aseansec.org/16580.htm |title=ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation|access-date=2016-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204162811/http://www.aseansec.org/16580.htm |archive-date=4 February 2012|url-status=usurped }}</ref>

The first leaders' meetings were held in 1996, and 1997 to deal with [[Asia–Europe Meeting]] issues, and China and Japan each wanted regular summit meetings with ASEAN members afterwards. The group's significance and importance were strengthened by the [[1997 Asian financial crisis]]. In response to the crisis, ASEAN closely cooperated with China, South Korea, and Japan. Since the implementation of the Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation in 1999 at the Manila Summit, ASEAN Plus Three finance ministers have been holding periodic consultations.<ref>Stubbs, R. "ASEAN Plus Three: Emerging East Asian Regionalism?" n.d. web. 12 May 2012.</ref> ASEAN Plus Three, in establishing the [[Chiang Mai Initiative]], has been credited as forming the basis for financial stability in Asia,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aseansec.org/17902.pdf|title=Welcome To The World Of Smokeless Cigarettes!|author=atinder|work=E-Cigarette Review Council|access-date=28 April 2016|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716172317/http://www.aseansec.org/17902.pdf|archive-date=16 July 2011}}</ref> the lack of such stability having contributed to the [[1997 Asian financial crisis]].

Since the process began in 1997, ASEAN Plus Three has also focused on subjects other than finance such as the areas of food and energy security, financial co-operation, trade facilitation, disaster management, people-to-people contacts, narrowing the development gap, rural development, and poverty alleviation, human trafficking, labour movement, communicable diseases, environment and sustainable development, and [[transnational crime]], including counter-terrorism. With the aim of further strengthening the nations' co-operation, East Asia Vision Group (EAVG) II was established at the 13th ASEAN Plus Three Summit on 29 October 2010 in [[Hanoi]] to stock-take, review, and identify the future direction of the co-operation.

The ASEAN Plus Three framework also serves as a platform for the ASEAN affiliated intergovernmental organizations in China, Korea, and Japan to meet and cooperate. The [[ASEAN-China Centre]], the [[ASEAN-Japan Centre]], and [[ASEAN-Korea Centre]] currently convene annually to discuss ongoing projects and to discuss possible areas of cooperation vis-a-vis ASEAN.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2022-10/11397.html |title= Secretaries-General of ASEAN-China Centre, ASEAN-Japan Centre and ASEAN-Korea Centre Held 18th Informal Meeting |access-date=2024-05-07 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230923073442/http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2022-10/11397.html |archive-date=23 September 2023 }}</ref>

====ASEAN Plus Six====
ASEAN Plus Three was the first of attempts for further integration to improve existing ties of Southeast Asia with [[East Asia]]n countries of China, Japan and South Korea. This was followed by the even larger [[East Asia Summit]] (EAS), which included ASEAN Plus Three as well as India, Australia, and New Zealand. This group acted as a prerequisite for the planned [[East Asia Community]] which was supposedly patterned after the [[European Community]] (now transformed into the [[European Union]]). The [[ASEAN Eminent Persons Group]] was created to study this policy's possible successes and failures.

The group became ASEAN Plus Six with Australia, New Zealand, and India, and stands as the linchpin of [[Asia-Pacific|Asia Pacific]]'s economic, political, security, socio-cultural architecture, as well as the global economy.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jcer.or.jp/eng/pdf/asia07.pdf |title=An ASEAN+6 Economic Partnership: Significance and Tasks |last=Urata |first=Shujiro |date=February 2008 |access-date=29 November 2018 |archive-date=30 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930053153/https://www.jcer.or.jp/eng/pdf/asia07.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/region_e/con_sep07_e/kawai_wignaraja_e.pdf |title=ASEAN+3 or ASEAN+6: Which Way Forward? |last1=Kawai |first1=Masahiro |last2=Wignaraja |first2=Ganeshan |access-date=29 November 2018 |archive-date=30 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930053202/https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/region_e/con_sep07_e/kawai_wignaraja_e.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Conclusion for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership 'finally in sight': PM Lee |url=https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/asean-regional-comprehensive-economic-partnership-pm-lee-10662722 |work=Channel NewsAsia |access-date=16 September 2018 |archive-date=16 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916164051/https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/asean-regional-comprehensive-economic-partnership-pm-lee-10662722 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="East Asia Forum">{{cite news|url=http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/05/15/asean6-as-a-step-towards-an-asian-economic-community/|title=ASEAN+6 as a step towards an Asian Economic Community|date=15 May 2009|work=East Asia Forum|access-date=16 September 2018|archive-date=30 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930053206/https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/05/15/asean6-as-a-step-towards-an-asian-economic-community/|url-status=live}}</ref> Codification of the relations between these countries has seen progress through the development of the [[Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership]], a free-trade agreement involving the 15 countries of ASEAN Plus Six (excluding India). RCEP would, in part, allow the members to protect local sectors and give more time to comply with the aim for developed country members.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/tpp-rcep-ftaap-a-users-guide-to-alphabet-soup-of-trade-deals |title=TPP, RCEP, FTAAP – a user's guide to alphabet soup of trade deals |newspaper=The Straits Times |date=20 November 2016 |access-date=28 November 2016 |archive-date=30 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930053205/http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/tpp-rcep-ftaap-a-users-guide-to-alphabet-soup-of-trade-deals |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[India]] temporarily does not join the RCEP for the protection of its own market, but Japan, China, and ASEAN welcomes India's participation.<ref name="Chinese government official website. 1–25">{{cite web |url=http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2019-11/08/content_5450257.htm |script-title=zh:中方：无意追求对印度贸易顺差 欢迎印度尽早加入Rcep_滚动新闻_中国政府网 |script-website=zh:中国政府网_中央人民政府门户网站}}</ref>

[[Taiwan]] has been excluded from participating with the organization owing to China's influence on the [[Asia Pacific]] through its economic and diplomatic influence.<ref name="Hsieh pp. 1–25">{{cite journal | last=Hsieh | first=Pasha L. | title=Rethinking non-recognition: Taiwan's new pivot to ASEAN and the one-China policy | journal=Cambridge Review of International Affairs | publisher=Informa UK Limited | date=2019-09-09 | volume=33 | issue=2 | issn=0955-7571 | doi=10.1080/09557571.2019.1657796 | pages=204–228 | s2cid=203301979 | url=https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2953 | access-date=3 September 2020 | archive-date=30 September 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930053205/https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2953/ | url-status=live }}</ref>