The Asian economies want to first establish a free trade area among themselves before considering the implementation of the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific but Washington wants them to be hooked to the plan simultaneously.

Leaders of the 21 economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum agreed at a summit in Vietnam on November 16 to commission a study of the free trade zone linking Asia and the Americas for evaluation next year.

The plan was pushed for by the United States, with President George W. Bush saying it "deserves serious consideration."

East Asian economies are looking into setting up their own free trade zone incorporating Southeast Asia, China, Japan and South Korea and possibly even India, Australia and New Zealand.

Japan and several other East Asian nations want to launch their regional free trade area before embarking on a Asia-Pacific wide free trade agreement.

But Washington is pushing for a swift implementation of the Asia-Pacific plan, saying it would jolt non-APEC members, such as Brazil and India, to restart stalled talks for a new global trade accord.

"If you go to Asia, there are still lot of sensitivities on the part of East Asian economies to move immediately into this exercise," said Masahiro Kawai, a top Japanese official with the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Kawai, speaking Thursday at the fourth annual US Asia Pacific Council conference in Washington, said that while many East Asian economies regarded the United States as their "most important ally from the security perspective," they wanted more time to join America in the free trade initiative.

"From an economic point of view, perhaps, the order of liberalization with the United States may be for East Asia to consolidate itself first and then move to a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific," said Kawai, who is in charge of the ADB's regional economic cooperation and integration program.

Kawai then asked whether the free trade plan was "realistic at this point of time," citing for example the "imbalances" between China and the United States.