Because most Latin American and a number of Asian countries are not in the APEC, in 1998 Singapore initiated the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), involving 17 Latin American and 15 East Asian countries. FEALAC holds regular meetings of government officials, politicians, business leaders and academics, and various economic, cultural, educational, political and scientific projects have been undertaken. With respect to bilateral relations between East Asia and Latin America, apart from China it is primarily Japan that is actively relating to Latin America.