APEC to keep membership moratorium over handling of India+

TOKYO, Aug. 29 Kyodo -
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum has no plans to expand its
membership in the immediate future as its 21 members are split over whether to
add India to the regional grouping, sources close to the matter said Sunday.
APEC, which includes Japan and the United States, set a moratorium on new
membership after Russia joined the forum in 1998 and agreed in 2007 to consider
the membership issue in 2010, when APEC leaders assemble for an annual summit
in Japan.
The moratorium was introduced due to concerns that increasing members further
may make it difficult for the forum to reach agreements, and thus may force
APEC to lose its clout. It was initially to stand until 2007, but APEC leaders
had decided that year to extend it to 2010.
APEC leaders were expected to consider adding new members at their summit in
Yokohama in November, but the move became unlikely due to their division over
India, one of the major candidates for new membership, the sources said.
Keeping the moratorium intact for a long time may overshadow APEC's raison
d'etre, given that another regional framework called the East Asia Summit, with
16 members, has recently approved including the United States and Russia in the
grouping.
Many countries, such as Japan, China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand,
belong to both the East Asia Summit and APEC, but India is party only to the
East Asia Summit.
All 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations belong to the East
Asia Summit, but only some of them are members of APEC, which was launched in
1989 with 12 members to spur trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region.
As APEC includes countries such as China, Japan, Russia and the United States,
some members that are concerned about China's growing influence have been
pushing for India's entry into the framework, according to the sources.
But other members were apparently cautious about accepting India.
==Kyodo
2010-08-29 23:46:27


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