If plans materialize as envisioned, the 3rd Informal Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) the Philippines is hosting from November 24-28 will be exceptionally and significantly historic.

During the meeting, also known as the "ASEAN+3 summit," because of the participation of the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea, the Philippines will propose that the 10 member ASEAN, China Japan and South Korea engage in closer cooperation in the political and security, economic, financial and social fields.

The participation of China, Japan and South Korea in the summit, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) explains in a pre-summit document, "underscores the fact that ASEAN recognizes the importance of continually engaging these countries as our partners in the region."

"The increasing political tension in Southeast Asia, as in Indonesia, between China and Taiwan, and in the presumed rich source of raw materials at the Spratly Islands, compels us to take another took into the political-security mechanism in the region," DFA said.

The DFA also noted that Asia has not responded adequately to crises such as international terrorism, transnational crimes, drug abuse, money laundering and environmental problems.

"To tackle these modern threats, a new Asian security agenda must be set. It should cover not only the traditional mechanisms but also non-military reaction possibilities to extreme dangers," the DFA added.

Concentrating alone on the military aspects of the security partnership, the DFA said, "is no longer viable in view of the complexity of the new global environment."

This week's ASEAN Informal Summit is the third such meeting since 1997.

In the 1996 Fifth ASEAN Formal Summit, since 1976 when ASEAN was established, the regional bloc's leaders agreed to meet formally once every five years, but decided to meet informally every year.

Their first informal summit was in Kuala Lumpur in 1997. The second was in Hanoi in December last year. This week's Manila summit is the third.