countries, and cultivation of the members. EAC should play a positive
role in mitigating the differences and reducing the tensions in the
region, like the division and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula,
Taiwan Straits relations, territory and island as well as Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ) line disputes, and in helping to bring all mem-
bers of the region into an integrated framework under its umbrella.
EAC faces many challenges. One of the factors for its progress
is the real success of A S E A N community-building which gives
ASEAN the confidence to continue to lead the region forward to be
integrated into a larger regional architecture. Another is the
China-Japan relationship. Although their relations have improved
in recent years, they are not sharing a high-level strategy on
regional community-building. As neither side w i l l be accepted as
the sole leader, their cooperation and joint efforts are crucial.1 0 EAC
will not be built up if China and Japan fail to share common
interests and strategy, and to consolidate each other in the areas of
EAFTA, financial cooperation, security strategy and regional
institution-building.