Asian Integration in the Contemporary World

1. Asian Regionalism

2. Outline
• Economic development
– Flying geese, falling geese
• Economic interdependence
• ASEAN
• Northeast Asia

3. Postwar Development I
• Flying geese pattern of economic
development, by industry

4. Postwar Development II
• Flying geese pattern of economic
development, by region

5. Trade Interdependence

6. ASEAN: overview
• Association of Southeast Asian Nations
• 10 member states
– Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, &
Vietnam
• home to 600 million people
• collective GDP of US$2 trillion

7. ASEAN: founding (1967)
• 5 founding members:
– Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia,
Philippines
• Bangkok Declaration of 1967:
– accelerate economic growth
– promote regional peace and stability
– contain the spread of communism

8. Arc of Containment

9. End of Cold War
• ASEAN Free Trade Area
• initiated at ASEAN summit in 1992
• comprehensive program of regional tariff
reduction
• program later broadened and accelerated
• reaffirmed during Asian Financial Crisis of
1997-98

10. End of Cold War
• Expansion of ASEAN
• 1995: Vietnam
• 1997: Laos
• 1997: Myanmar
• 1999: Cambodia

11. ASEAN: external links
• A joint forum with Japan was established
in 1977
• A cooperation agreement with the
European Community was signed in 1980
• ``ASEAN + 3”: regular series of meetings
at the cabinet and head-of-government
levels with Japan, China, and South Korea
since 1997

12. ASEAN and U.S.
• Investment:
– U.S. direct investment of US$157 billion in
ASEAN
– nearly 3 times more than in China
– 10 times more than in India
• Trade:
– 4rd largest export market ($76 billion) for U.S.
– U.S. imported $123 billion from ASEAN

13. Northeast Asia
• Japan, South Korea, North Korea
• Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan
• Mongolia, Russia

14. Northeast Asia
• Compared with Southeast Asia and West
Europe, Northeast Asia has lagged behind
– in developing mechanisms or institutions
– of coordination, cooperation, or integration
• especially considering the immense
economic potentials in the region
– natural resources
– human infrastructure

15. Political Difficulties
• Legacies of World War II
– Japanese atrocities in Pacific Asia
• Legacies of Cold War
– partition of Korea

16. Political difficulties
• Territorial disputes between
– Japan and China
– Japan and South Korea
– Japan and Russia
– “Sea of Japan” or “East Sea”?
• mutually reinforcing suspicions

18. Current Status
• Washington-Tokyo-Beijing triangle
– PRC & Japan regard relationship with each
other as 2nd in importance to that with US
• Japan plays significant role in integrating
PRC into world economy
• Japan has a vital interest in PRC’s
development and stability
• Economic interdependence

19. PRC’s Trade Partners 2012
• Japan is mainland China’s third largest
trade partner and largest import source
• Total trade volume: US$329 billion
• Total imports from Japan: US$178 billion
– 10% of mainland China’s total imports
• Total exports to Japan: US$152 billion
– 7% of mainland China’s total exports

21. Japan’s Trade Partners
• Mainland China is Japan’s largest trade
partner, largest source of imports, and
largest destination of exports
– US$334 billion trade in 2012
– compared with $217 billion trade with US
• PRC (including Hong Kong) became
Japan’s largest trade partner in 2004
– surpassed the US for the first time

22. Japan’s Direct Investment
• Largest overseas investment source
• 22,307 Japan-invested enterprises
• Directly or indirectly employ over 10
million people

23. Thank You!