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Mammoth economic crises do serve as a glue bonding major East Asian countries together. For instance, the uncertainties surrounding China-Japan relations have quickly diminished, which for the past several decades used to be the main stumbling block for community building in East Asia. During 2003-05, squabbling between China, Japan and Korea over their past did the most to dampen the prospects to realise what Asean secretary-general Dr Surin Pitsuwan described as the "Big C", referring to the EAC.

Early this month, Japan's Air Force chief of staff General Toshio Tamogami was immediately dismissed over his controversial essay denying Japan's aggression against other Asian countries such as China and Korea before and during World War II. Surprisingly, this time around both China and South Korea, major driving forces of EAC, reacted and responded with maturity and restraint over the incident - ensuring there was no residue of ill-feelings.

In almost six decades, China and Japan have to a certain extent come to terms with their past enmities. At the very least, their past wartime experiences and memories would not serve as justification for stalling cooperation at bilateral and regional levels. Both countries have much to gain from predictable relations with additional strategic values. Their cooperation provides an anchor for the community-building process in East Asia to grow. The EAC is now within reach.

The credit crunch in the West has miraculously led to closer relations in East Asia. A decade ago, the herd instinct drove each country for cover, searching its own solution. They were all down together. Now, there is a sense of regional confidence with positive and constructive herd instincts among the East Asian (Asean plus three) leaders. Recently, they met informally on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing and immediately agreed on measures to promote the region's financial resilience by enlarging the pooling of funds and a more efficient surveillance regime. At the Asean-plus-three summit in Chiang Mai on December 16, the plan to expedite and expand the size of the Chiang Mai Initiative including the effort to multilize it would be decided. The East Asian leaders would also mull over the possiblity of deepening and widening the Asian Bon Market to mobilize Asian savings to augment investment in the region.

Dr. Surin told reporters over the weekend in Bangkok that leading world's economists including Nobel Laureate, Prof Robert Mundell of Columbia University, have said that the time is ripe for the possbility of establishing the Asian Monetary Fund.

As part of the overall improvement in China-Japan relations, they have recently begun a series of meetings to exchange views on regional development and cooperation plans in developing countries. For instance, they have already discussed each country's approaches and policies towards Africa.

Japan has been one of the major aid donors in the past two decades for African economic development. China has recently emerged as a major investor and a donor country there since 2000. But Japan and China have never coordinated or mapped out common economic and development strategies. If this confidence-building measure works, it could lead to additional discussions on their relations with Asean and the Great Mekong Subregion(GMS). In the near future, such dialogue could transform their development aid policies - changing relations with the region as a whole from competition to cooperation.

As China-Japan ties grow deeper, their development policies towards Asean and the GMS could work in tandem instead of undermining each other. A new form of Japan-Asean aid consortium is possible. In their own separate ways, China and Japan are constructing a new paradigm for their future relationships with Southeast Asia.

Previous patterns of fierce competition between China and Japan for Asean's closer attention and cooperation are disappearing. Asean knows full well the tactics of using the Chinese card to obtain concessions and favours from Japan or vice versa as in the past is no longer useful. It was former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda who effectively terminated this tendency when he made improving Japan-China relations his top priority, which has led to the current level of comfort and sustainability.

Stable Japan-China relations would have a far-reaching impact on the EAC. If necessary, Asean has to redefine the Asean-plus-three process as the only forum for community building in East Asia. Meanwhile, Asean needs to reconcile with the growing dynamic of the East Asian Summit (EAS), which includes Australia, New Zealand and India. The three-year-old forum has already agreed on key measures on climate change, energy and food securities. Recently, advisers on Asian affairs of the Obama-Biden team have already expressed the US interest in joining the EAS.

More than the Asean leaders would like to admit, Asean does not have the much-needed intellectual capacity or organisational capability to lead all regional architects, even though the grouping remains its centrality. In the future, when Asean is more confident, with the gap between old and new members narrower, other non-Asean EAC or EAS members would be able to play bigger roles. And that is the way it should be - the sooner the better.