TOKYO: Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew says it will be difficult for East Asia to form an integrated community based on the European model.

He was speaking at the "Future of Asia" symposium in Tokyo attended by Asian leaders.

"If you expand too quickly as they did in Europe, suddenly they became 27 from six. So the French people suddenly felt unhappy that they have Poles, Romanians, Czechoslovakians going to take their jobs. They rejected the constitution in a referendum. Similarly the Dutch.

"So that was the result of too ambitious a political plan. People were not ready for it. So I think studying the essence of Europe, we should proceed cautiously, step by step, but always towards closer integration and cooperation," said Mr Lee.

While China, Japan and Korea share common roots, Mr Lee notes that Southeast Asia is made up of different races and ethnic groups which do not share the same history, language and religion.

"When we talk about East Asian community, I think we must be very cautious. We must be realistic to understand that there will be always competing interests. In every cooperative endeavour the other side of the coin is competition. You're not just cooperating.

"Cooperating for mutual benefit, yes. But cooperating so that each believes that it will gain ultimately, as the more effective, more productive, more competitive component as a result of the cooperation. That is part of life," he said.

When Mr Lee was asked why Singaporeans have been able to accept immigrants more readily than the Japanese, Mr Lee responded, "The young Indians who come from India, young Chinese who come from China, young people who come from the region, they have their host communities in Singapore and they can fit into them. And there's already a certain "live and let live" and "let's be friends and let's cooperate" approach between our communities."

Mr Lee says given Japan's homogenous society, the country cannot do what Singapore has done in this aspect. - CNA/yy