The Fourth East Asia Summit was held in Cha-am and

Hua Hin Hua Hin ( th, หัวหิน, ) is one of eight districts (''amphoe'') of Prachuap Khiri Khan province in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula in Thailand. Its seat of government, also named Hua Hin, is a beach resort town. The district ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

on October 25, 2009. The

East Asia Summit The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a regional forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian and Oceanian regions, based on the ASEAN Plus Six mechanism. Membership expanded to 18 countrie ...

(EAS) is a pan-

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

forum held annually by the leaders of 16 countries in the

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

n region. EAS meetings are held after annual

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

leaders' meetings. The Fourth East Asia Summit was rescheduled several times, had its venue changed and one attempt to hold it was cancelled due to the 2008–2009 Thai political crisis. It was finally held on October 25, 2009.

Attending delegations

The 16 countries participating at the head of state and head of government level were: File:Kevin Rudd official portrait.jpg,

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

File:Hassanal Bolkiah.jpg, Hassanal Bolkiah
Sultan and

File:Hun Sen (2016) cropped.jpg,

Hun Sen Hun Sen (; km, ហ៊ុន សែន, ; born 5 August 1952) is a Cambodian politician and former military commander who has served as the prime minister of Cambodia since 1985. He is the longest-serving head of government of Cambodia, and ...

File:Wen Jiabao 2008.jpg,

Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic polic ...

Premier File:IBSA-leaders Manmohan Singh.jpg, Manmohan Singh

File:20041120-6 bushindonesiamtg1-515h cropped.jpg, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

File:Yukio Hatoyama.jpg,

Yukio Hatoyama is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 16 September 2009 to 8 June 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1986, Hatoy ...

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Bouasone Bouphavanh Bouasone Bouphavanh ( Lao: ບົວສອນ ບູບຜາວັນ; born 3 June 1954) is a Laotian politician who was Prime Minister of Laos from 2006 to 2010. He was officially appointed to the office by the National Assembly of Laos on 8 J ...

File:Dato Sri Mohd Najib Tun Razak 140x190.jpg,

Najib Tun Razak Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak ( ms, محمد نجيب بن عبد الرزاق, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 6th prime minister of Malays ...

File:TheinSeinASEAN.jpg,

Thein Sein Thein Sein ( my, သိန်းစိန်; IPA: ; born 20 April 1944) is a Burmese politician and retired general in the Myanmar Army who served as the eighth President of Myanmar from 2011 to 2016. He previously served as Prime Minister ...

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Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Par ...

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File:Vejjajivacropped.jpg, Abhisit Vejjajiva

(Chairperson)

Agenda

World economic conditions were to have been on the agenda of the summit, but by the time of the summit, the immediate crisis had passed. The summit in October 2009 was scheduled to receive a report on the proposed

Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia The Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA) is a Japanese led proposal for trade co-operation, free trade agreement, among the 16 present member countries of the East Asia Summit. All those movements and efforts were taken over ...

to potentially establish the world's largest trading bloc.

of Australia and retired Australian diplomat Richard Woolcott were to address the summit on regional architecture and the idea of an Asia Pacific community. The members were to consider

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

's plans for the revival of Nalanda University.

Issues related to staging the fourth EAS

The summit was originally to be held in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

on 17 December 2008. It was announced in late-October 2008 that the summit would be shifted from Bangkok to Chiang Mai due to concerns about political unrest in the capital city. It was then announced on 2 December 2008 that due to the 2008 Thai political crisis the summit would be postponed from 17 December 2008 to March 2009. On 12 December 2008 Abhisit Vejjajiva indicated that if he became the next prime minister of Thailand he would seek to hold the summit in February 2009. In January 2009 it was announced that, although the

ASEAN Summit The ASEAN Summit is a biannual meeting held by the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in relation to economic, political, security, and socio-cultural development of Southeast Asian countries. In addition, it serves ...

had been scheduled for 27 February 2009 to 1 March 2009, those dates were not convenient for the ASEAN delegates and that the East Asia Summit and the

ASEAN Plus Three ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military ...

meetings would be held later. The rescheduling of the heads of government/state of the 16 nations caused the EAS to be tentatively rescheduled for April, coinciding with

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

. The revised date meant that a change of venue from

Phuket Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands of ...

to Pattaya was contemplated. The revised date and venue were subsequently confirmed. The venue was to be the Pattaya Exhibition and Conference Hall (PEACH). It was also announced that India would be represented at the summit by Commerce and Industry Minister

Kamal Nath Kamal Nath (born 18 November 1946) is an Indian politician who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for approximately 15 months and resigned after a political crisis. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Le ...

, not its prime minister.

Cancellation of the summit in 2008 and postponement to 2009

On 11 April 2009, anti-Thai government protesters smashed their way into the East Asian summit, forcing the Prime Minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, to cancel the meeting and evacuate foreign leaders by helicopter. Officials did not say whether or when the summit would resume. Following the cancellation,

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed regret over the incident. Abhisit Vejjajiva later vowed legal action against anti-government protesters "who reduced a showcase Asian summit to a shambles and exposed the nation to international embarrassment". During the lead up to the summit, there were also several border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia. The summit was said to be used as an opportunity for discussions on the sidelines between the respective nations' leaders.

Attendance by leaders

Australian Prime Minister The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the federal government of Australia and is also accountable to federal parliament under the principl ...

was en route to the summit from Australia when he was contacted by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and advised to return to Australia. The leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea were airlifted out by their Thai hosts, whilst

New Zealand Prime Minister The prime minister of New Zealand ( mi, Te pirimia o Aotearoa) is the head of government of New Zealand. The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, took office on 26 October 2017. The prime minister (inform ...

did not make it out of Bangkok airport.

Rescheduling

By late-April the Thai government was looking to reschedule the summit to June 2009 in

.. Summits to be held by June in Phuket There had been earlier reports that Indonesia might seek to host the summit if Thailand could not. Australian press reports suggested it could be held in Vietnam. In early-May Thailand proposed, at a senior officials meeting, the dates of 13–14 June in Phuket, with a promise of a five kilometre "no rally zone" around the venue. This revised date was said to be inconvenient for the leaders of Indonesia, India, and New Zealand. The summit was subsequently confirmed as having been rescheduled for 25 October 2009 in Phuket, but then was moved again to Cha-am and

Outcomes

The summit adopted two documents. The first was a statement on disaster management. The second related to the re-establishment of Nalanda University by

. The chairman's statement noted:

21. We acknowledged the importance of regional discussions to examine ways to advance the stability and prosperity of the Asia Pacific region. In this connection, we noted with appreciation the following:
(a) the Philippines’s proposal to invite the heads of other regional fora and organizations in Asia-Pacific to future EAS meetings to discuss measures that will protect the region from future economic and financial crisis and strengthen Asia economic cooperation, including through the possible establishment of an economic community of Asia.
(b) Japan's new proposal to reinvigorate the discussion towards building, in the long run, an East Asian community based on the principle of openness, transparency and inclusiveness and functional cooperation.
(c) Australia's proposal on the Asia Pacific community in which ASEAN will be at its core, will be further discussed at a 1.5 track conference to be organized by Australia in December 2009.

The statement of the ASEAN Plus Three meetingChairman's Statement of the 12th ASEAN Plus Three Summit Cha-am Hua Hin, Thailand, 24 October 2009
noted that it was "a main vehicle" in building the East Asian Community.

References

External links

14th ASEAN summit
{{DEFAULTSORT:East Asia Summit 04 2009 conferences 2009 in international relations 21st-century diplomatic conferences ASEAN meetings Diplomatic conferences in Thailand October 2009 events in Thailand 2009 in Southeast Asia 2009 in Thailand