MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in a newspaper article published yesterday, criticised the West for opposing his East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC) scheme on what he called 'racial' grounds.
In the article contributed to the Daily Yomiuri, he also asked Japan to renounce its resistance to join the forum, which could conflict with the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum.
'I hate to suggest that there may be a racial element in this,' Mr Mahathir said about United States-led objections to the idea of the EAEC that he put forth in late 1990.
'But when we have eliminated all other reasons, we are left only with racial differences,' he said.
'Is it that Asians have less rights than people of European origin? It is that Asians cannot be trusted?' He reiterated that the EAEC was 'merely a forum, and an informal one, at that, intended for the countries of East Asia, big and small, to discuss common economic problems'.
He said: 'It is not a trade bloc, a customs union or a free trade area as the EU [European Union] is, as NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] is.' 'It has no political or security agenda. It does not bind its members and it is not a formally structured organisation.' He said Japan's participation in the EAEC would be 'a genuine helpful act'.