Mistrust among Asian nations and trade disagreementswould be large obstacles to the formation of an Asian Union that operates like theEuropean Union, but experts believe it is an achievable goal.
The idea of an East Asian community of nations - akin to the economically powerful European Union - has been raised for years. On Monday, however, Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama brought up the subject again at a meeting in New York with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Hu stopped short of agreeing to the proposal, but Japanese government officials say Hu was interested in dealing with some of the issues that have prevented progress toward such a goal.
Political experts say such an alliance is unlikely any time soon. The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, free-trade agreements and a unified currency are among numerous difficulties to be addressed before such a community can be realized.