Increasing the visibility of the EAS

Kavi Chongkittavorn has valid reasons to suggest that Asean can no longer be a benign host of the East Asia Summit (EAS), whose meetings are insufficiently publicised by the media.
The legal and diplomatic fundamentals for more political  interaction between all participants in the EAS are clearly defined. In the November 2011 declaration of the EAS concerning “mutually beneficial relations”, the 10 members of Asean plus Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the US reiterated a strong commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and other recognised principles of international law.
One essential principle specifically formulated in the declaration is the renunciation of the threat of use of force or use of force against another state, and settlement of differences and disputes by peaceful means.
United in an original forum of multilateral diplomacy which deserves more visibility, the 18 members of the EAS represent the right countries with the right mandate to collectively address the complex range of political, economic and security challenges facing the region and to avoid damaging strategic miscalculations in the Asia-Pacific region. From this perspective, the EAS deserves special and constant attention from the media.
Ioan Voicu