Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called Saturday for closer links between Asian nations. "East Asia cannot and must not come under the hegemonic control of states either from outside the region or inside the region. Both are totally unacceptable," Abdullah said in the speech at the Boao Forum on the southern Chinese island of Hainan. His comments were reported by Malaysia's national Bernama news agency. China has promoted the annual two-day gathering as an Asian counterpart to elite Western business gatherings. Other participants this year include Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew. Abdullah said that in a globalizing world where "our political, economic and security interests are so closely intertwined with one another," Asian governments have to build economic and trade ties in order to promote prosperity and guarantee peace. "If we are to build a real community of nations, we will need behavioral norms to ensure that there are incentives to participate and that everyone can be accommodated within it," the Malaysian leader said, according to Bernama.
