In response to the establishment of the Network of East Asian Think-tanks (NEAT) and the East Asia Forum (EAF) in 2003 at the request of the ASEAN+3(Japan, China and ROK) Summit, the Council on East Asian Community (CEAC) was inaugurated in Japan to participate in the activities of these epistemic communities as the representative of Japan. Furthermore, the establishment of CEAC was aimed at collecting information upon, and formulating Japan’s strategic responses to, the developments of regional cooperation and integration in East Asia as a whole.

　　CEAC was launched on May 18, 2004 at the founding meeting attended by representatives of think-tanks, businesses corporations and government ministries as well as individuals, who shared interest in East Asian regional architecture. Accordingly, it should be noted that CEAC is not designed to promote an “East Asian community” per se, but to study it. This means that CEAC is not presumptive of any specific definition of an “East Asian community.” There being various views on the geographical scope of “East Asia” and the concrete structure of “community,” CEAC confines itself to the study of the implications of each of these views and to the pursuance of whatever kind of strategic responses Japan should choose.