The world will be a different place in 30 or 40 years, with Asia at the forefront, said Daljit Singh, a visiting senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. The new grouping is a response to this change. “Its significance is that it symbolizes the Asian century, the coming of age, in a sense, because by 2050 Asia will have three of the four largest economies in the world,” he said in a telephone interview.
These three – China, Japan and India – will be represented at the meeting, along with the 10 Southeast Asian nations, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Russia will be allowed to attend as an observer.
The exclusion of the fourth big economy, that of the United States, is also a signal of changing dynamics, Mr. Singh said, but the American presence remains strong through its close allies, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
CDT EBOOKS
Subscribe to CDT
SUPPORT CDT
Giving Assistant
Anti-censorship Tools
Click on the image to download Firefly for circumvention
