In a speech presented at the Asia Society AustralAsia Centre annual dinner, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd spoke of developing an Asia-Pacific regional community by 2020 due to the Asian region’s increasing global significance.
“We need to have a vision for an Asia-Pacific community, a vision that embraces a regional institution which is able to engage in the full spectrum of dialogue, co-operation and action on economic and political matters and future challenges related to security,” he said.
The concept could become a European Union-style conglomerate, capitalising on Australia’s position as the only ‘western’ country in the region.
US presidential candidate John McCain supported the idea, provided Australia made democracy a proviso, which stirred tensions with China.