It is this desire to get a more generous slice of the Asian trade pie that prompted both countries to bend over backwards to please Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad when he came Down Under recently. The meeting between Mahathir and Australian Prime Minister John Howard, replete with bearhugs and warm smiles, seemed to erase the memories of 1993, a diplomatic nightmare for them. Paul Keating, the then prime minister, had called Mahathir "recalcitrant" for staying away from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Seattle; the latter retaliated by banning Australian TV programmes and threatening sanctions. Even now, Mahathir has scant regard for the Australia-inspired APEC, promoting as he is the proposed East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC), which excludes not only Australia, but the US too. Malaysia has also placed a freeze on Australian participation in the Asia-Europe summit meetings, the first of which was held in Bangkok last month.