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It took the three countries six years to come this far. The idea was in the making after their informal breakfast meeting ahead of the Asean plus three Summit in Bali in October 2003 when Beijing was instrumental in drafting the Joint Declaration on the Promotion of Tripartite Cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea. At the time, China's position and cooperation within the Asean framework was the strongest. A strong sentiment prevailed among them that there should be more than one forum of East Asian cooperation beyond the Asean plus three process, so they agreed to increase their cooperation. "The tripartite cooperation [between China, Japan and South Korea], is an essential part of East Asian cooperation," the joint declaration said in part.

After the statement first came out, Asean leaders did not feel any threatening sense at all because right after the tripartite's cooperation, relations became rocky due to growing anti-Japanese sentiment in both China and Korea. Repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine of former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi sparked off endless protests in China and South Korea. Japan's relations with the two Asian giants plummeted. They have improved only in the past two years, particularly under former prime minister Yasuo Fukuda, who successfully extended his friendship to China and far beyond.

With such a positive outlook and extensive cooperation among the trio, Asean needs to accelerate its economic integration and fully implement the Asean Charter to increase its relevancy to a broader economic dynamism in Asia today.

When the Asean leaders started the dialogue with the so-called plus three countries in 1997, they presumed with confidence - rightly at the time - that China and South Korea would not be able to reconcile with Japan any time soon because of their longstanding historical baggage and mutual mistrust. As a result, they would rely on Asean to provide the venue and sometimes the necessary cushion for their dialogues and cooperation. In their minds, the kind of Dazaifu meeting and its tangible results would have been too far fetched.

For the past decade, Asean has been rather lackadaisical in thinking Asean plus three would be the only mechanism for community-building in East Asia. The grouping prefers the slow and steady evolution process. But other dialogue partners did not share such sentiments and frequently dreaded the notion of "Asian-driving force" or "Asean Way".

The wind of change, coupled with the collapse of the financial world, has gradually weakened the bargaining power of Asean. Political instability, intra-Asean border conflicts within and among member countries, and the Burmese crisis, have further eroded the grouping's credibility and international standing. The Asean Charter has already come into force. It is still early to judge what kind of positive impact it will have on the grouping and in changing the behaviour and commitment of member countries.

The trio's swift responsive measures towards the crisis won praise and were indicative of their in-born resiliency. Despite their ongoing border disputes (Japan and China over Senkaku/Daoyutai island; South Korea and Japan over Dokdo/Takeshima), they have managed to move ahead to forge a bigger and broader alliance of cooperation on transnational issues, apart from financial schemes including natural disaster management and avian flu - something Asean can learn and emulate.

As the Asean summit approaches, regional leaders would want to ensure that the leaders of the plus-three countries are not abandoning them. Thailand, as the Asean chair and host, has to ascertain that they are committed to economic growth and integration among the 10 members, even though their economies have also been hardest hit and slowed down by the financial meltdowns.

After the Daizaifu summit, the Japanese government and business leaders have so far sent the strongest signals to the grouping they would continue to support in the economic integration of Asean. The Japan External Trade Organisation has been instrumental in seeing that investment from Japanese companies would not fall off. Prime Minister Taro Aso is planning to announce a new comprehensive initiative to tackle the global financial crisis during the second week of April in Bangkok, when Thailand hosts the Asean plus three and East Asian Summit.

China and South Korea have their own plans to integrate trade, financial flows and direct investment towards the region. Beijing has also planned an assistance package for long-term infrastructure construction for the region. South Korea aims to reveal its economic plan for Asean in Cheju Island when it hosts the Asean-South Korean Summit in early June to commemorate its 20th anniversary as the grouping's dialogue partner.

Japan by far has been the most enthusiastic in supporting Asean economic integration. Last year Japan set up the Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia (ERIA). The Jakarta-based research institute opened only a few months after the decision was made at the third East Asian Summit in Singapore in 2007. Its main objectives are to facilitate the economic-community building in Asean as well as to promote sustainable growth in East Asia. ERIA research is focusing on narrowing the development gaps and ways and means to nurture a greater sense of community in the region.

Every region of the world has developed its own economic institution to promote economic development and integration. In Europe, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has helped European countries to consolidate their economies as well as tackle social, economic and governance issues. ERIA is hopeful that in the future it will transform itself into the region's OECD.