Raviprasad Narayanan replies: There are several key challenges facing the East Asia Summit (EAS):
First, EAS is beholden to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as progenitor of this regional forum. Mahathir Mohamad, current Prime Minister of Malaysia, is considered to be behind the idea of EAS. The inclusion of the United States and Russia was designed to accommodate two belligerents in the past, currently with a suspicious outlook vis-à-vis each other.
China’s Inconsequential Bid to Sign Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Treaty
Showing readiness to sign the SEANWFZ treaty seems to be a low-cost, high-return proposition for Beijing. It could be a calculated symbolic gesture having no bearing on the region’s precarious security situation.