"Asian leaders are considering rival plans from Australia and Japan for an EU-style economic and political bloc, as they wrap up the East Asia Summit in Thailand."
ASEAN leaders consider EU-style bloc - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

and

"China-ASEAN FTA to accelerate RMB regionalization"
China-ASEAN FTA to accelerate RMB regionalization_English_Xinhua


"Alongkorn Ponlaboot, deputy minister of commerce of Thailand, believed RMB would play a more important role in bilateral trade between China and ASEAN in the future. He said yuan was a very stable currency and expanding its use could help reduce risks faced by the ASEAN countries in using the U.S. dollar, which has become highly volatile as a result of the global financial crisis"

Quite obviously the two articles have a common thread. There appears to be moves afoot to cultivate the domestic Asian consumer market and move away from the $US hegemony.