On an East Asian Community, or Kant's Cosmopolitan Right Reconsidered 1

The concept of an East Asian community has emerged and been discussed in recent years. ² For example, in its report to the ASEAN+3 Summit in 2001, dated 31 October 2001, the East Asian Vision Group Report announces: “We, the people of East Asia, aspire to create an East Asian community of peace, prosperity, and progress based on the full development of all peoples in the region” (cited in Akihiko Tanaka's contribution in Curley and Thomas 2006, 65). Three pillars support such a community: a politico-security pillar, an economic pillar, and a socio-cultural pillar. The last one has been the least discussed and developed among these three pillars (Japan Center for International Exchange 2003; Curley and Thomas 2006). It concerns a sense of an East Asian identity that people of East Asia may have. Such an identity may be fostered through growing interactions among the people and civil society organizations in the region and through ideas, values, and norms thereby promoted and shared. An East Asian community may thus be recognized, supported, and developed by people of East Asia.