East Asian Summit (EAS) foreign ministers have expressed a general support of the planned inclusion of the United States and Russia but asked for further consultations with Asean, according to a conference source.
Vietnamse Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khim informed the EAS Foreign Ministers Informal Consultations Meeting on the expanded EAS.
The source, who asked not to be identified, said that while all other EAS foreign ministers welcome the expansion of the leaders' forum, Chinese Foreign Minister Jiechi Yang has given lukewarm support. He was quoted as saying that China "took notes with open attitude" of the Asean proposal and "look forward for consultatons" with Asean.
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has proposed science and innovation as a new area of cooperation among the EAS members, according to the source.
The EAS ministers agreed to maintain the current format of their without any upgrade as their colleagues in finance and energy sectors.