Articles from Journals
(Arranged
Chronologically)
Title:
Asia:
A Perspective on the Subprime Crisis
Author(s):
Khor
Hoe Ee and Kee Rui Xiong
Source:
Finance
and Development, June 2008, Volume 45 No. 2
Link:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2008/06/khor.htm#author#author
Title:
ASEAN
Exports: Charting the slowdown
Author(s):
Philip
Wyatt, Senior Economist, ASEAN
Source:
UBS
Investment Research Southeast Asian Focus, 4 April 2007
Abstract:
Exports, equivalent to 64% of its GDP clearly matter for
ASEAN economic growth. In this Focus article we review recent
cyclical S E Asian export trends and reexamine their outlook,
particularly our base forecasts in 2007 and the risks. In
sum, we adhere to the view that 2007 will see a moderate downswing
in the export cycle, but unlike 2001 there will be only mild
implications for real GDP. This result runs counter to history
for two main reasons: first the scale of the downturn in global
demand is likely to be more moderate than that in 2001. Second,
the ASEAN domestic economies are strong and the stage is set
for a cyclical upturn. On top of this, those economies with
more diversified export bases and which are least sensitive
to exports should be expected to ride through this export
downturn least scathed.
Title:
Financial
Integration in Asia : Recent Developments and Next Steps
Author(s):
David
Cowen, Ranil Salgado, Hemant Shah, Leslie Teo, and Alessandro
Zanello
Source:
IMF
Working Paper – WP/06/196
Abstract:
This working paper brings together three papers prepared
as background for discussion at the Second High-Level Conference
on Asian integration cohosted by the Monetary Authority of
Singapore and the IMF in May 2006. The first documents recent
trends in the intraregional flow of goods and capital and
explores linkages between real and financial integration.
The second focuses on the institutional and regulatory reforms
needed to reap the benefits- and contain the risks- of financial
integration in Asia. The third considers the implications
of economic integration for the choice of the exchange rate
regime and the conduct of macroeconomic policies.
Title:
Economic
Integration in East Asia: Trends, Prospects, and a Possible
Roadmap
Author(s):
Pradumna
B. Rana
Source:
ADB
Working Paper Series on Regional Economic Integration No.2,
July 2006
Abstract:
This paper reviews trends in East Asian regionalism in
the areas of trade and investment, money and finance, and
infrastructure. It prevents various measures of trade and
financial integration. An important finding of the paper is
that increasing trade and financial integration in the region
is now starting to lead to a synchronization of business cycles
in a selected group of countries, further enhancing the case
for monetary integration among these countries. The paper
also outlines a roadmap for east Asia integration.
Title:
India's
Coming Eclipse of China
Author(s):
Hugo
Restall
Source:
Far
Eastern Economic Review
Volume:
Volume
169, Number 2 / March 2006
Abstract:
India is poised to emerge from China's shadow, and with
its strong fundamentals could even overtake should China falter.
Title:
East
Asia, Many Clubs, Little Progress
Author(s):
Hadi
Soesastro
Source:
Far
Eastern Economic Review
Volume:
Volume
169, Number 1 / Jan/Feb 2006
Abstract:
East Asia has no lack of regional integration initiatives
but no consensus on which of them to pursue.
Title:
East
Asia, Regionalism, and U.S. National Interests: How Much Change?
Author(s):
Gerald
L. Curtis
Source:
American
Foreign Policy Interests Volume:
Volume
26, Number 3 / June 2004
Abstract:
East Asian regional organizations can emerge and thrive
on their own, without the participation of the United States,
the author argues convincingly.
Title:
Japan
and Asian Monetary Regionalisation: Cultivating a New Regional
Leadership after the Asian Financial Crisis
Author(s):
S.N. Katada
Source:
Geopolitics
Volume:
Volume
7, Number 1 / Summer 2002
Abstract:
The Asian financial
crisis of 1997-98 left many marks in the political economy
of Asia, among which is the (re)emergence of Japan's interest
in taking a leadership role in defining and strengthening
regional monetary cooperation. Japan's new interest stems
from its perspective on the causes of, and appropriate solutions
to, theAsian crisis, especially in contrast to US-IMF views
and responses which directly challenged Japan's economic and
ideological interests in the regional economy. A journey to
regional monetary leadership for Japan has just started, and
it is not going to be an easy one. Much of the fate of Japan's
regional monetary leadership hinges on whether or not
Japan succeeds in cultivating a constituency among Asian
members for its initiatives.
Title: Economic
cooperation and integration in East Asia
Author(s):
Chia Siow Yue
Source:
Asia Pacific Review Volume: 11, Number 1 / May 2004
Abstract:
Recent developments in the relationship between East Asian countries and
prospects for further cooperation are discussed, together
with analysis of the driving forces for proliferation of free
trade areas (FTAs) and preferential trade arrangements (PTAs),
as well as the different types of arrangements. The evolution
of the key features of such economic cooperation agreements
are outlined and the challenges and issues facing more extensive
East Asian economic integration are reviewed. The paper concludes
with recommendations for bringing about a viable, effective
East Asian economic community that will benefit member countries
and contribute positively to global trade.
Title:
Challenges
for currency cooperation in East Asia
Author(s): Kiyohiko Fukushima
Source:
Asia Pacific Review Volume: 11, Number 1 / May 2004
Abstract:
The defects of the current international financial system are creating
tremendous distortions in the economies of East Asia. For
the time being, most of the developing countries in East Asia
have no choice but to adopt some sort of a flexible, wider
band system (crawling band) while resorting to capital control
when necessary, in order to avoid the recurrence of the Asian
currency crisis. Japan's approach to building a stable international
financial system in East Asia has gone through several stages
since the late 1970s. Though the latest approach of setting
up the Asian Bond Fund (ABF) is a step in the right direction,
the ABF has severe limitations in reducing the risks for the
developing countries in Asia. The ABF needs to be replaced
by the Asian Bond Corporation (ABC) in order to develop an
international capital market in Asia and use the abundant
saving in Asia for financing the growth of Asia. In the process
of expanding the activities of the ABC, Asia can adopt the
notional common currency based on a basket of major currencies.
That notional currency will pave the way toward introducing
the Asian common currency, which can be the ultimate goal
for the economic cooperation and integration in East Asia.
In the meantime, while enhancing currency cooperation, East
Asia needs a lender of the last resort in order to keep its
economy from collapsing from another currency attack. Japan
has been trying to play that role and is poised to take that
responsibility as the largest and the most developed economy
in the region. International capital markets and a truly international
currency must be supported by numerous institutions and intellectual
frameworks. Asia is yet to build those institutions. To help
build those institutions, we in East Asia need to establish
a new international research institution which would coordinate
the strenuous intellectual efforts needed for building institutions
that bolster the international capital market in Asia. The
envisaged new institute can be dubbed the "Asian Monetary
Institute," or "AMI."
Title:
East
Asian ideas of regionalism: a normative critique
Author(s): Baogang He
Source:
Australian Journal of International
Affairs
Volume: 58, Number 1 / March 2004
Abstract:
Little was done to challenge nationalist assumptions in the name of regionalism.
Regarding nationalism as a sensitive matter best left to a
later stage of regionalism, they [advocates of regionalism]
did not focus on how nationalist outlooks in the media and
elsewhere stand in the way of both regionalism and internationalism.
Gilbert
Rozman (2000: 18)
With
an increasing regional integration and development, there
are many competing ideas of, and proposals for, regional development
in Asia. This article examines the historical evolution of
the idea of regionalism, the meanings of Asian regionalisms,
variations of Asian regionalisms and their impact on regional
cooperation in East Asia. It discusses Mahathir's idea of
neo-Asianism, Japanese new Asianism, Chinese ideas of regionalism,
and variations of Korean ideas of regionalism. It also examines
a normative basis of regionalism with special reference to
the sovereignty question. The paper concludes that behind
East Asian regionalism is nationalism which constitutes driving
forces for regionalism; that two competing orders (Asia-Pacific
regionalism versus pan-Asianism) create different expectations
and visions of how East Asia region should evolve and they
are in tensions and lead to different directions; and that
East Asia lacks a convincing and acceptable normative framework.
Title:
In
Defence of FTAs: from purity to pragmatism in East Asia
Author(s): Barry
Desker
Source:
The Pacific Review
Volume: 17, Number 1 / March 2004
Abstract:
This paper discusses the shift in
East Asia from a focus on multilateral trade liberalization
through the WTO to a pragmatic approach since 1999 favouring
bilateral and regional FTAs while continuing to support the
WTO system. It is argued that such FTAs are a second-best
option compared to WTO agreements. However, while economists
may seek the ideal solution, governments will focus on the
politically attainable, especially as new multilateral agreements
require lengthy negotiations beyond the life span of governments.
As the WTO negotiating process has become bogged down, even
once sceptical governments in East Asia are turning to FTAs.
It is contended that such FTAs could form a lattice network
within and across regions. In this context, the paper discusses
the underlying security rationale for the conclusion of FTAs,
highlighting the nexus between security interests and international
economic policy in East Asia.
Title:
Complex
regional multilateralism: 'strategising' Japan's responses
to Southeast Asia
Author(s): Julie
Gilson
Source:
The Pacific Review
Volume:
Volume 17, Number 1 / March 2004
Abstract:
Japanese government interests in
Southeast Asia continue to expand. Official speeches refer
to the growth of a 'community that acts together', while institutional
linkages have been strengthened with the creation of the ASEAN
Plus Three process and by a proliferation of bilateral arrangements.
These developing networks raise questions about Japan's future
orientation towards its wider region.
This
article assesses recent developments, by challenging some
of the fundamental assumptions about Japan's regional behaviour.
First, it examines how a tendency to render mutually exclusive
bilateral and multilateral forms of behaviour serves to obfuscate
a focus on the fundamental processes of regional engagement.
Second, this article delineates Japan's changing orientation
towards the region as part of a process of 'complex regional
multilateralism', in which a range of often ad hoc engagements
have resulted in a loose framework for interaction. In so
doing, it suggests that Japan's current policy-making approach
towards Southeast Asia may be regarded as a continuation of
policy that is, nevertheless, being buffeted by a range of
- primarily regional - external influences. The resulting
set of perceived strategies demonstrates not an either/or
approach to regional engagement but, rather, shows how the
Japanese government manages changing circumstances to carve
out a new role for itself in Southeast Asia.
Title:
Securing
security through prosperity: the San Francisco System in comparative
perspective
Author(s): Kent
E. Calder
Source:
The Pacific Review
Volume: 17, Number 1 / March 2004
Abstract:
The integrated system of political-economic
relations that has prevailed in the Pacific since the September
1951 treaty of peace with Japan, known here as the San Francisco
System, is distinctive in comparison with subregional systems
elsewhere in the world. This paper outlines key defining features,
such as (1) a dense network of bilateral alliances; (2) an
absence of multilateral security structures; (3) strong asymmetry
in alliance relations, both in security and economics; (4)
special precedence to Japan; and (5) liberal trade access
to American markets, coupled with relatively limited development
assistance.
After
contrasting this system to analogous arrangements elsewhere,
especially in the Atlantic, it explores both the origins and
the prognosis of this remarkably durable political-economic
entity. Complementary domestic political-economic interests
on both sides of the Pacific, reinforcing a brilliant original
Japan-centric design by John Foster Dulles, account for persistence,
it is argued, while forces for change center on the dynamic
emerging role of China.
Title:
European
Union Integration Lessons For ASEAN + 3: The Importance Of
Contextual Specificity
Author(s):
James Angresano
Source: Journal
of Asian Economics Volume:
Jan 2004
Abstract: This
paper will argue that EU integration appears to offer ASEAN
and three Northeast Asian Countries (China, Japan and South
Korea) political and security lessons concerning maintenance
of regional stability, as well as some economic lessons. There
is not, however, any institutional blueprint for integration
that these countries could emulate. This is in part because
economies are characterized by "contextual specificity"
of chosen institutions and their corresponding working rules.
These institutions and rules evolve in particular cultural
and historical settings and are shaped by the specific country's
philosophical basis, political structure, and attitudes of
authorities towards alternative types of economic institutions
and the types of corresponding rules they could choose to
establish for those institutions.
Title:
A
new world order in East Asia?
Author(s): Snitwongse
K.
Source: Asia-Pacific Review Volume:
November 2003, vol. 10, no. 2
Abstract:
The
outcome of the war in Iraq served as a stark reminder that
the US perceives its unrivaled military superiority as largely
freeing it from the imperative to take account of the views
of its allies. At the same time, the balance of power in the
Asia-Pacific region is shifting, as Chinas economic rise continues
and Japan's mounting fiscal woes erode its influence overseas.
Kusuma Snitwongse, chairperson of the advisory board of Chulalongkorn
University's Institute of Security and International Studies,
Thailand, paints a vivid picture of a region whose future
is clouded by uncertainty. Can the growing threat from a nuclear
North Korea be contained? Will economic integration alleviate
tension between China and Taiwan? Is ASEAN capable of playing
an effective role on the world stage? The order that emerges
will be shaped by numerous forces and, the writer hopes, will
be one that is based on the precepts of multilateralism and
on the traditional Asian virtue of abiding by the consensus.
Title:
Exploring
alternative theories of economic regionalism: from trade to
finance in Asian co-operation?
Author(s): Heribert
Dieter
Source: Review
of International Political Economy
Volume:
10, Number 3 / August 2003
Abstract:
The
financial crises of the late 1990s marked an intellectual
watershed for the global economy, and also for regionalism
as the Janus face of globalization. At the beginning of the
twenty-first century, the theory and practice of regional
cooperation and integration may evolve along different lines
to how it was understood for most of the second half of the
twentieth century. In East Asia, in particular, this will
mean that the relationship between multilateralism and regionalism
will change. The 'East Asian' region will become an increasingly
important domain within which to explore enhanced protection
against financial crises. What we might call 'monetary regionalism',
sceptical western voices notwithstanding, is now firmly on
the regional agenda in East Asia.
Within
conventional political economy, the theory and practice of
monetary regionalism is not as easy to understand as traditional,
trade-driven, regional integration. Thus one aim of this paper
is to outline a theory of monetary regionalism and demonstrate
the degree to which it represents a break with understandings
of the regional project in East Asia prior to the late 1990s.
From its start in 1989, APEC claimed to be a new type of regionalism.
The promise was that APEC would promote open regionalism.
APEC did not achieve this goal. Nor did it provide support
to its Asian members during the financial crises of the late
1990s.
At
the same time, more traditional (what we might call Balassian)
understandings of trade-driven regional integration are showing
signs of decreasing importance. There is a growing appeal
to trade co-operation, but this is notably an increasing interest
in bilateral preferential trading arrangements. This leads
to a complex picture of competing regional initiatives across
the economic policy spectrum. The paper locates these initiatives
in the wider context of the growing politico-economic dialogue
between Southeast and Northeast Asia that has developed via
the ASEAN+3 process since 1997.
Title:
Forum
on East Asian Monetary Cooperation
Author(s):
Jai-Won-Ryou and Yunjong Wang
Source: MONETARY
COOPERATION IN EAST ASIA: Major Issues and Prospects
Volume: Working Paper No. 1, August 2003
Abstract: The
Asian currency crisis in 1997 and the launch of the euro in
1999 made the possibility and desirability of introducing
a regional currency in East Asia a point of debate.
At present, the empirical findings and policy implications
of previous studies are mixed. We are still in need of theoretical
and empirical studies that capture the salient features of
East Asia, and give us reliable recommendations for incentive
structures, configurations and policy instruments in monetary
cooperation in its various stages. This paper aims to review
major conceptual and empirical issues relevant to monetary
cooperation in East Asia, including proposals for a regional
cooperative framework for exchange rate stability or forming
a currency union in the region. Monetary cooperation in East
Asia will be a long process that requires building collective
institutions in the beginning. As the economic structures
of East Asian countries converge with one another through
closer ties of trade, investment and finance, the necessity
for monetary cooperation will be more likely to emerge in
the future.
Title:
Trade
Integration and Business Cycle Synchronization in East Asia
Author(s): Kwanho Shin and Yunjong Wang
Source: Korea
Institute For International Economic
Policy Volume: Working
Paper 03-01
Abstract: As
trade integration deepens in East Asia, it is expected that
there will be closer links in business cycles among East Asian
countries. Theoretically, however, increased trade can lead
business cycles across trading partners to shift in either
direction: while inter-industry trade could overturn this
tendency. By using the data for twelve Asian economies, this
paper finds that intra-industry trade is the major channel
through which business cycles become synchronized among Asian
economies, although increased trade itself does not necessarily
lead to close business cycle coherence. This result has important
implications for the prospects of a currency union in the
region.
Title:
CHINA
AND ASEAN: Renavigating Relations for a 21st century
Asia
Author(s): Alice D. Ba
Source: Asian
Survey
Volume: 40(4), July-August 2003
Abstract: In
East Asia, few relationships have evolved as much as that
between China and the Association of South East Asian Nations.
While important differences remain, relations have seen a
marked improvement over the past decade, especially when compared
to the considerable suspicion that once defined their relations.
Changing U.S priorities in Asia have played an important part
in that evolution.
Title:
Adjusting to the New Asia
Author(s): Morton
Abramowitz and Stephen Bosworth
Source: Foreign Affairs Volume:
82 (4), July-August 2003
Summary:
Transpacific relations are now shifting
as dramatically as transatlantic ones. As Japan slips in power
and relevance, China grows ever stronger, and since September
11, Washington has become willing to let Beijing play a larger
regional role. Meanwhile, tensions in Korea could still provoke
a war--or help reshape the continent.
Title:
Constructing
an 'East Asian’ concept and growing regional identity: from
EAEC to ASEAN+3
Author(s): Takashi
Terada
Source: The
Pacific Review Volume:
16, Number 2 / June 2003
Abstract: The
concept of East Asia as a region is relatively new. Until
the appearance of the abortive East Asian Economic Caucus
(EAEC) idea, which was put forward by Prime Minister Mahathir
of Malaysia in the early 1990s, there was no strong conceptual
framework for regionalism in East Asia as a whole. At that
time, the idea of an integrated East Asia, joining Northeast
Asia and Southeast Asia in regional unity, was not yet firmly
enough established to gain the consensus necessary to form
a regional institution based on the larger framework. Following
the constructivist approach, which emphasizes the significance
of analysing how regional 'togetherness' can be strengthened
and how this influences the formation of a regional institution,
this article examines how and why the first proposal for East
Asian regionalism, EAEC, failed to be realized, and then analyses
the successful establishment and development of ASEAN+3. The
article stresses the significance of the emergence and increasing
acceptance of the concept of East Asia, and identifies factors
such as the Asian financial crisis and the development of
regionalism in other regions which helped to promote the self-other
distinction necessary for the formation of an East Asian identity.
Further, it emphasizes that the strengthened bond among the
countries of the region can be attributed partly to the successful
establishment of the ASEAN+3 meetings. The article also highlights
Japan's growing involvement in ASEAN+3, an approach which
contrasts sharply with its lukewarm attitudes towards EAEC.
Japan's push for the promotion of ASEAN+3 can be seen as a
major factor behind the development of this regionalism. Finally,
this article discusses whether a truly East Asia regional
institution such as an East Asian Free Trade Agreement is
likely to emerge.
Title:
Asia's
new regionalism: government capacity and cooperation in the
Western Pacific
Author(s): Natasha
Hamilton-Hart
Source: Review
of International Political Economy
Volume:
10, Number 2 / May 2003
Abstract:
Since
1997, cooperation initiatives involving Asian countries have
become more visible and ambitious. These initiatives reflect
incentives for regional cooperation in Asia that are the product
of prior levels of regional integration and international
developments. While many countries in the region stand to
gain from more substantive cooperation, they are likely to
find certain cooperative goals difficult to achieve. This
difficulty cannot be ascribed to the commonly cited obstacles
to cooperation in Asia: economic diversity, inter-state political
rivalry and the influence exercised by the US. Rather, parts
of the new regional agenda are complicated by the kind of
government organizations that exist in some countries. Government
organizations that lack domestic regulatory capacity are poorly
equipped to participate in some regional initiatives.
Title:
India’s
Look East Policy: An Asianist Strategy in Perspective
Author(s): Christophe
Jafferlot
Source:
India Review Volume
Volume:
2, No. 2, April 2003
Abstract: The
notion of Asianism is not something new to India. The first
India and Asianism had much to with the affirmation of nationalist
feelings in the framework of an anti colonial movement. While
it would be reductionist to deny any role to ideas- to the
notion of cultural affinities between Asian countries- Indians
largely promoted the Asianist ideology because it suited their
national interests. This repertoire almost vanished after
the failure of India’s first attempts at propagating its brand
of Asianism in the 1950s. This setback marked the beginning
of a long period of retreat from Asia that ended in the 1990s.
The
Asianist sensitivity that became visible in India in the 1990s
responds to economic imperatives: Indian leaders eagerly invoke
their cultural affinities with East Asia in their efforts
to join this new pole of growth. Thus, the instrumentalization
of these themes is again above all determined by national
interests.
India,
which has been so far isolationist as if its huge size and
population allowed it to be self sufficient, is now opening
up to East and South East Asia. It is doing so willingly,
as this part of the world is perceived as an extension of
India’s own civilization and the birthplace of an alternative,
non-western mode of modernization.
Title:
Embedded
mercantilism and open regionalism: the crisis of a regional
political project
Author(s): Jayasuriya
K.
Source: Third World Quarterly Volume:
24, No. 2, April 2003
Abstract: This paper advances the argument
that moves towards regional integration need to be understood
as 'regional governance projects' undertaken by domestic actors
and coalitions. Regional political projects--such as open
regionalism--have roots in domestic structures, and it is
this which defines the broad configuration of the regional
political economy. On the basis of this framework the paper
suggests, first, that the strategy of open regionalism was
contingent on a particular configuration of power and interests
in the domestic and external economy (embedded mercantilism).
Second, this system of embedded mercantilism depended on a
set of domestic coalitions between tradeable and non-tradeable
sectors of the economy. The non-tradeable sector in Southeast
Asia was entrenched within a particular system of political
patronage. Third, the Asian crisis and other structural changes
in the international economy have made these domestic coalitions
less sustainable, thereby creating opportunities for new forms
of regional governance projects.
Title:
Multilateralism,
Regionalism, Bilateral and Crossregional Free Trade Arrangements:
All Paved with Good Intentions for ASEAN?
Author(s): Linda
Low
Source: Asian
Economic Journal Volume:
17 Issue 1 Page
65 - March 2003
doi:10.1111/1351-3958.00162
Abstract:
Current initiatives in Asia and Asia Pacific regionalism are
responses to regionalism happening elsewhere in the context
of globalization, information communication technology and
knowledge-based economy. The conclusion is that many economies
are 'having it both ways' in multilateralism under World Trade
Organization (WTO) and new regionalism. The argument is that
the 'first best' theory of free trade under multilateralism
and WTO have fallen short. A 'second best' theory of new regionalism
has been acknowledged by the Doha ministerial declaration
to complement and supplement WTO. Both Asia challenged Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of South-East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) are challenged by ASEAN Plus Three (APT),
which originated from the Asian crisis in the failed Asian
Monetary Fund (AMF).
Singapore
has responded to these challenges in bilateral trading agreements,
driven by its idiosyncratic features of a small, city-state
economy and frustrated by laggard ASEAN. Increasingly, there
is a divergence in macroeconomic policy between Singapore
and ASEAN in terms of openness and competition. The dilemma
in Singapore's strategy of bilateral trading agreements and
foreign economic trade policy is precisely this divergence
in macroeconomic philosophy and policy. The pressure on ASEAN
is no less from APT, China and regionalism elsewhere than
from Singapore. However, the present paper concedes that bilateral
and crossregional trading arrangements are still second best,
and that broader regionalism and multilateralism are still
superior. With so many regional trading arrangements and emerging
competition policy there may be rules of origin or 'spaghetti
bowl' effects for Singapore. In 'realpolitiks' and real political
economy, the balancing of gains and benefits is not easy.
Title:
China-Asean Free Trade Agreement: Shaping
Future Economic Relations
Author(s): John Wong; Sarah Chan
Source: Asian Survey Volume:
43 Number: 3
Abstract: The China-ASEAN Free
Trade Agreement has been hailed as a landmark pact in pushing
for freer trade between China and the ASEAN countries. With
the establishment of the free trade zone, trade and investment
between the Chinese and ASEAN economies are expected to increase
significantly; but while the economic benefits are inexorable,
the extent of gains derived from closer integration hinges
on the Sino-ASEAN economic relationship, which is both complementary
and competitive in nature. At the present stage of development,
China and ASEAN are more competitive than complementary, given
the similarity in their trade and industrial structures. ASEAN
and China are also direct competitors for foreign investment,
rather than significant investors in each other's economies.
Despite these challenges, the prospects for bilateral trade
to flourish are bright if both China and ASEAN can interlock
their economies through deeper integration in the long term.
Title:
Asian
regionalism and its effects on trade in the 1980s and 1990s
Author(s):
Ramon Clarete, Christopher Edmonds and Jessica Seddon
Wallack
Source: Journal
of Asian Economics Volume:
14, Issue 1, February 2003
Abstract:
This paper begins by outlining the major preferential trade
agreements (PTAs) in Asia and other regions and reviewing
trends in trade flows. The paper uses a gravity model augmented
with several sets of dummy variables to estimate the effect
of various PTAs on trade flows within and across membership
groupings as well as the effect of PTAs on members' trade
with Asian countries. On the basis of these estimates, we
are able to categorize 11 major PTAs into those that increase
intrabloc trade at the expense of their respective imports
from the rest of the world; those that expand their respective
trade among their members without reducing their trade with
nonmembers; and those that reduce trade with nonmembers without
significant changes in intrabloc trade. The authors also show
that PTAs have augmented trade in Asia.
Title:
Asian
economic integration: a perspective on South Asia
Author(s): Saleem M. Khan and Zahira S. Khan
Source: Journal
of Asian Economics Volume:
13, Issue 6, January 2003, Pages
767-785
Abstract:
This paper argues in favor of open regionalism and continent-based
integration in Asia. These are the effective instruments of
outward-oriented development. The enlargement of trading blocs
into continent-based integration also serves as a countervailing
power to stem the excesses of economic globalism. The case
made in the paper shows the need for institutional changes
for promoting economic development. Institutional changes
along with open regionalism are essential to enhancing outward-oriented
development in South Asia. Respectable progress has been made
in these areas across the continents in general, and in Asia
in particular (ASEAN, SAARC, APEC). Efforts on these initiatives
must be redoubled as we start the 21st century.
Title:
The
Social Construction of International Institutions: The Case
of ASEAN+3
Author(s): Dirk Nabers
Source: International
Relations Of The Asia-Pacific Volume: 3 (2003) pp. 1113-136
Abstract: Slowly, but steadily, a new international
institution is emerging in East Asia: the ASEAN+ 3 forum,
comprising the ten members of the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan and South Korea. ASEAN+
3 is an interesting case of institution-building in that it
is constructed around the core of an already existing institution,
ASEAN which was founded in 1967. This analysis of the multilateral
forum seeks to answer two theoretical questions: (i) Why do
states cooperate? (ii) What happens to their interests and
identities once they communicate with each other? In view
of this task, Nabers, offers a social constructivist variant
of international relations theory to explain the instigation
of the process on one hand and the processual construction
of the institution on the other. The underlying belief is
that not only do states influence the development of international
institutions, but that institutions can also exert influence
on foreign policy behaviour.
The
approach introduced here acknowledges that international reality
is a social construction driven by collective understandings
emerging from social interaction. This approach to the explanation
of the initiation and the subsequent development of an institution
recognizes the existence of both material and normative grounds
of foreign policy action. It differs from neoliberal institutionalism
because in theory as well as in realism collective interest
is assumes as pre-given and hence exogenous to social interaction.
In contrast, we suppose that social interaction ultimately
does have transformative effects on interests and identity,
because continuous cooperation is likely to influence intersubjective
meanings. This method of analysis corresponds with Moravscik’s
tripartite analysis of integrations: while the initial phase
refers to the formation of stat preferences, second and third
involves the dynamic aspect of ‘constructing’ national institutions:
the outcomes of interstate bargaining and the choice of international
design.
Title:
Is
East Asia under-represented in the International Monetary
Fund?
Author(s): David P. Rapkin and Jonathan R. Strand
Source: International
Relations Of The Asia-Pacific Volume: .3 (2003) pp. 1-28.
Abstract:
East Asian countries perceive that their individual and collective
positions in the world economy are not fairly represented
in existing international institutions, which have yet to
fully adjust to the region’s rapid economic ascent over the
last several decades. This problem seems especially acute
in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where in each country’s
participation in the organization’s weighted voting scheme
is supposed to reflect the number of votes. Are Asian countries’
IMF quotas incommensurate with their relative economic weight
and, if so, by what margin? And if Asian countries are indeed
under represented in the IMF, which other country, group of
countries or region is correspondingly over represented? This
paper examines these questions from several perspectives.
It first discusses the purpose of quotas, and how they are
determined. It then turns to the question of whether Asian
perceptions concerning under representation are empirically
corroborated. The first data analysis section compares current
quotas to relative measures of economic weight in the world
economy. The following section compares four quota values:
past quotas, current quotas, calculated quotas, and quotas
calculated using the method of the IMF’s external quota review
board. In short, the data demonstrate that Asia does have
a strong claim for a greater share of IMF quotas. The articles
concludes with a brief consideration of possible alternatives
to the IMF’s current use of quota to determine voting weights,
and argue that the problem of Asian under-representation will
probably not be corrected unless the IMF’s quota-determination
process in overhauled.
Title:
THE
US, JAPAN, AND TRADE LIBERALIZATION: From Bilateralism to
Regional Multilateralism to Regionalism+
Author(s): Ellis S. Krauss
Source: The
Pacific Review
Volume: 16,
No.3 2003, pp. 307-329
Abstract:
Japan’s foreign economic policy has undergone two crucial
changes in the past decade and a half: first the shift from
predominantly US-Japan bilateralism to the addition of regional
multilateralism, and then the recent extension to regional
FTAs for the first time. To what extent did these shifts in
Japan’s behaviour in the trade area represent a deep shift
in the purposes and goals of Japanese foreign economic policy?
This article looks at how American policy changes and development
in the US-Japan relationship, and economic globalization,
produced the changes in Japan’s domestic policy thinking and
process that led to these outcomes and to particular patterns
of development of these policy shifts. Using a simple version
and modification of ‘strategic interaction theory’ it concludes
that despite recent arguments that the shift to bilateral
FTAs may presage a turning point toward an Asian bloc, instead
it reflects a remarkable continuity in Japan’s foreign economic
goals in the post war period. Although an important change,
it indicates only using new means to adapt to the changed
regional economic security environment after the East Asian
Financial crisis and the debacle of trade liberalization in
EVSL in APEC. Japan now has a full ‘multi-tiered’ range of
trade alternatives to advance its constant goals of maintaining
a US ‘military shield’ and promoting its own ‘economic sword’
in the region.
Title:
The
Idea of an “Asian Monetary Fund”: The Problems Of Financial
Institutionalism In The
Asia-Pacific
Author(s): Shaun Narine
Source: Asian
Perspective
Volume: 27, No. 2, 2003, pp. 65-103.
Abstract: Asian
observers attribute the Asian economic crisis of 1997-199
to the instability inherent in the global financial system.
In response, Asians have discussed creating an Asian Monetary
Fund (AMF) to manage future financial crises and have demanded
the reform of the global financial architects. However, the
New International Financial Architecture developed since the
crisis fails to address the fundamental sources of instability
in the present global financial system. This system poses
economic and ideological threats to the stability of East
Asia. Therefore, regional states have powerful incentives
to create an effective AMF. However¸ traditional security
concerns, historical grievances, and political rivalries between
the major Asia-Pacific powers limit the prospects of regional
cooperation. Under these conditions, it is unlikely that East
Asian states can create an effective regional financial institution.
However, Asian states still need to protect themselves from
global financial volatility. They will probably pursue this
goal through bilateral and multilateral arrangements with
the regional powers. The Asia-Pacific will maintain a distinctive
East Asian political economy.
Title:
Japan’s
Twin Challenges: Dealing With An ASEAN At The Crossroads And
East Asian Regionalism
Author(s): Eric Teo Chu Cheow
Source: Asia
Pacific Review
Volume:
10, No.1, 2003
Abstract:
Still reeling from the aftershocks of the Asian economic
crisis of the late 1990s, the ten members of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations find themselves confronting both
internal structural problems and external challenges, such
as, the threats to the Southeast Asian region posed by Islamic
fundamentalism and terrorism. Japan, currently searching for
ways to escape its own economic mire, is also faced with challenges
from beyond its own borders, not least the unstoppable onward
economic march of China. In this article Eric Teo, council
secretary of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs,
argues that, just as the ASEAN nations must seek to heal their
own internal division, Japan must resist the temptation to
focus solely on its own domestic woes and instead actively
engage its ASEAN neighbours, as well as South Korea and China,
in order to forge a role for itself as a member of the greater
East Asian Community.
Title:
China
and Japan: A façade of Friendship
Author(s): Benjamin
Self
Source: The Washington Quarterly Volume:
26:1, Winter 2002-2003
Abstract:
Over
the past three decades, Japan and China have repeatedly declared
that they are entering a new era of bilateral relations. For
Japan, the use of such language reflected hopes of leaving
the past behind, but Japanese expectations were never realised
because the Chinese repeatedly dwelled on the past. The Japan
that China befriended was penitent over the war and basically
distrustful of itself. By now, Japan has distanced itself
from the militarist era and believes it can begin to use its
military, if it chooses, with democratic legitimacy. This
transformation is the core of the contemporary strain that
history causes China and Japan. As the two big fish in a small
pond, Japan and China’s rivalry for regional leadership is
increasingly leaving China confident and Japan irritated.
The
most important steps to take are not simply away from the
worn-out framework of friendship diplomacy but toward a new
model of relations, a new paradigm based on recognition of
the changes that have taken place. Japan can no longer treat
China, as an economically backward country and China must
not try to prevent Japan from exercising political influence
and leadership. The two neighbours must engage one another
honestly and frankly, with no illusion of friendship but willingness
to build a new framework of cooperation based on plentiful
common national interests.
Title:
Energy
Security In Asia And Japanese Policy
Author(s): Tsutomu Toichi
Source: Asia
Pacific Review
Volume: 10,
No.1, 2003
Abstract: To satisfy its demand for energy, Japan continues to
rely heavily on oil imported from the Middle East. Increasing
geopolitical uncertainty in the region has underscored the
urgent need for new initiatives in national energy security
policy. Projecting a continuing steep rise in oil consumption
by the rapidly industrializing nations of Asia (notably China
and India), Tsutomu Toichi, managing director of the Institute
of Energy Economics in Tokyo, proposes various alternative
sources of energy for Japan and its neighbours. Sounding a
cautiously optimistic note, Toichi argues that increasing
levels of cooperation between the nations of the East Asia
could serve as a basis for joint development projects that
might allow Japan to loosen the shackles of dependence on
Middle Eastern oil, but cautions that Japan must first place
greater emphasis on building good relationships with neighbouring
countries, and must also more closely align its energy, security,
and environmental policies.
Title:
China
And Japan: Trouble Ahead?
Author(s): Robert Sutter
Source: The
Washington Quarterly
Volume: Autumn
2002
Abstract:
Future
stability in East Asia depends heavily on the relationship
between the region’s main powers China and Japan. After normalizing
their diplomatic relations 30 years ago, these two countries
downplayed their differences in favour of mutually beneficial
economics and cooperation against Soviet Expansion. Following
the demise of Union of Soviet Socialist Republic and its strategic
influence in East Asia, Japan and China initially continues
to conduct their bilateral relations amicably. Recent friction,
however, has strained the balance between them.
Title:
Regionalization
of Trade and Investment in East Asia and Prospects for Further
Regional Integration
Author(s): Byeong
Hae Sohn
Source: Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy
Volume:
7, Number 2 / June 01, 2002
Abstract: Intra-regional
trade and investment in East Asia has increased during the
last few decades. These flows have accelerated again since
the beginning of the 1990s. The recent trade integration in
the East Asian region can be explained mainly by the more
active and connecting roles of newly industrializing economies
(NIEs) rather than by Japan and concentrated FDI flows within
the region. Regional financial market integration also helped
facilitate this process of trade and investment integration
within the region. The concentrated FDI flows have led to
the internationalization of production networks, of which
ethnic Chinese networks have been particularly significant.
East Asian economies are able to seek further regional integration
based on these production networks and on newly formed local
and subregional integration schemes.
Title:
Is
East Asia Integrating?
Author(s): Joshua
Kurlantzick
Source:
The Washington Quarterly Volume:
24:4, Autumn 2001
Abstract: After
a prolonged phase of getting over the World War II,
the East Asia over the past 15 years began to over come of
its old animosities and forging economic ties. Yet, despite
burgeoning economic interests Asians politicians did little
to foster regionalism. It took the financial crisis which
erupted in 1997 to prompt new political and security alliances.
With the crisis some Asians came to the conclusion that the
West was both overstating the depth of crisis and using financial
institutions to prolong the Asia’s pain. Yet, because Asians
were grossly underrepresented in the IMF and the World Bank,
they had little recourse with in the existing financial infrastructure.
Embittered several prominent Asians suggested that the Pacific
Rim establish its own economic and political infrastructure.
Since 1997 Asia slowly began to create its infrastructure,
which began with energy cooperation, moving on to naval and
other high seas cooperation. In part because China and other
states realised the need to cooperate on the high seas, China
, South Korea, Japan and the countries of South East Asia
launched a series of “ASEAN plus Three” meetings. Asia is
developing a “spaghetti of overlapping bowl ties”, extrapolating
form these small steps some Asian leaders suggested its seminal
meeting to produce a free trade agreement for the pacific
Rim. In spring 2001, 13 Asian countries implemented a series
of arrangements to exchange currency among their central banks,
a move designed to inoculate the region against future financial
crises. In fact, some analysts suggested that the currency
exchanges could form the basis for an Asian Monetary Fund.
Yet
there are difficulties. As, while the financial crisis in
the Pacific Rim turned some Asian countries against the West,
it also pitted South East Asians against each other, with
the differences between ASEAN’s haves and have-nots becoming
much more prominent. Also, as Asia becomes more democratic,
leaders are increasingly constrained by this popular will.
Moreover, despite Beijing’s overtures to ASEAN many ordinary
Asians believe regionalism will lead to Chinese dominance.
Also, the Japanese government’s doubts about regionalism could
impede potential breakthroughs, such as an Asian free trade
zone.
Title:
Regional Tourism and South-South economic Cooperation
Author(s): Krishna B. Ghimire
Source: The
Geographical Journal Volume: 167 Issue 2 Page
99 - June 2001
doi: 10.1111/1475-4959.00010
Abstract:
Regional tourism
within developing countries is a growing phenomenon. Yet this
aspect has been largely neglected in social science research
as well as tourism planning. This paper highlights the general
nature, scale and economic significance of regional tourism
in three leading regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The topic is especially timely as economic self-reliance and
cooperation are increasingly reiterated in the context of
the emergence of regional groupings. A key question addressed
is whether regional tourism development represents any new
and viable prospects for regional economic improvement and
partnership, especially compared to international tourism
centred on attracting visitors
from
industrialized countries. Based on a critical assessment of
the experiences of three regional blocs (ASEAN - the
Association of South-East Asian Nations; SADC - the
Southern African Development Community; and Mercosur - a
common market comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay,
with Chile being an associated member), the paper suggests
that a basic appreciation of the prospects of regional tourism
is not enough to produce perceptible benefits. Regional tourism
development is occurring in a haphazard manner, with little
attention to managing existing socio-economic inequalities
and centre-periphery relations. The paper is based primarily
on the review of secondary literature readily available to
the author combined with a few documents obtained directly
from different regional organizations or through Internet
search. A small amount of material, especially concerning
emerging tourism trends and outcomes, is drawn from a research
project on national mass tourism in developing countries coordinated
by the author at the United Nations Research Institute for
Social Development, Geneva.
Title:
Asian multilateral
institutions and their response to the Asian Economic crisis:
the regional and global implications
Author(s): Stuart
Harris
Source: The
Pacific Review Volume:
13, Number 3 / August 1, 2000
Abstract: Asian
multilateralism has been a relatively recent development.
It differs from that elsewhere and reflects the history and
characteristics of the region. It has been important in the
growth of regional cooperation, in developing common regional
interests and in the development and adherence to norms. These
characteristics contributed in responding in a constructive,
if limited, way to the Asian economic crisis. Nevertheless,
the crisis has revealed the weaknesses of existing regional
multilateral institutions and those weaknesses are often seen
as raising doubts about whether those institutions can be
effective in the future without major reform. Yet, although
the response of the regional institutions was clearly inadequate,
the region's response overall was far from negligible. Efforts
to ensure regional coherence in the future by way of ASEAN,
APEC and ASEAN+3 in particular are already being made to ensure
greater stability in the financial sector. The region also
wants to overcome its under representation in the global arena,
but increased global participation, while positive, will remain
supplementary to the global institutions, notably the IMF.
Greater global involvement would provide, however, a more
appropriate balance between regional and global contributions
to future crises, since they will need to be better tailored
to regional conditions and therefore depend on greater regional
involvement from the start.
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