'ASEAN-plus-3' should be called E. Asia Economic Group.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 4 Kyodo

A decade after his proposal to form an East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC) was shot down, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad spoke vehemently Monday of the need for an East Asia grouping, beginning with the change of name for the ''ASEAN-plus-three'' to ''East Asia Economic Group.''

''We would be very happy if we stopped hiding behind this spurious title and called ourselves the East Asia Economic Group,'' Mahathir said at a conference organized by Malaysia's Institute of Strategic and International Studies.

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its three dialogue partners -- China, Japan and South Korea -- hold annual meetings under the euphemism ''ASEAN-plus-three.''

The ASEAN-plus-three structure is essentially the EAEC that Mahathir had in mind when he first proposed the concept in 1993 to counter the trade blocs of Europe and North America.

The idea, however, did not take off because Japan, the crucial participant, backed down after pressure from the United States, which would have been excluded from the grouping.

''The countries of East Asia should state openly that they want to form a single grouping like the North American Free Trade Area and the European (Economic) Community,'' Mahathir said.

EAEC has since evolved to become ASEAN-plus-three ''so as not to ruffle the feathers of other countries. But now we should come out in the open and say we want to have the East Asian economic grouping,'' he added.

''We in East Asia are the most dependent region in the world on world trade and economic development. Yet we are without voice and without clout. The decisions that directly determine our present and dictate our future are made elsewhere. It is time for us to empower ourselves for the good of our people and for the sake of our future and the future of the world,'' Mahathir said.

ASEAN's members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.