Political Leadership, Informality, and Regional Integration in East Asia: The Evolution of Asean Plus Three

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshimatsu Hidetaka
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Regional Public Goods ◽  
Catalytic Role ◽  
Asean Countries ◽  
Shared Norms

AbstractSince the late 1990s, moves towards regional integration and cooperation have gained momentum in East Asia. The regional countries have expanded and deepened integration initiatives under the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) framework that consists of ASEAN countries, China, Japan and South Korea. What factors have promoted the development of regional integration and economic cooperation in the region? This article addresses this question in terms of collectively shared norms and political leadership. Informality, a representative common norm, played a catalytic role in first nurturing communication for regional cooperation and inducing a reluctant state to join the cooperative framework. Importantly, the development of regional cooperation under the APT framework was accompanied by a shift in emphasis from informal to formal settings. Moreover, leadership shown by China and Japan has played a crucial role in promoting the regional integration initiatives. While China has taken the initiative in propelling regional free trade agreements and economic development and integration in the Indochina countries, Japan has taken the lead in developing financial and monetary architectures and other cooperative mechanisms. Rivalry for political leadership has induced the two countries to provide regional public goods in a positive-sum game manner.

East Asia Institutionalises: China, Japan and the Vogue for Free Trade

2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Webster
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Comprehensive Approach ◽  
Partner Country ◽  
The Past ◽  
China And Japan

AbstractIn the past decade East Asia has taken steps to increase regional integration. This paper examines the vogue for Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) currently raging in China and Japan. After mapping the regional links that knit East Asia together during the 1990s and 2000s, the focus then shifts to the specific trade agreements that China and Japan have signed. Both countries exhibit a particular FTA “style;” Japan has adopted a more orthodox and comprehensive approach to its treaties, while China has shown greater flexibility and gradualism when dealing with FTA partners. It is still unclear whether these efforts will lead to a region-wide FTA, or a continued crisscrossing of bilateral arrangements. In either case, China's eagerness to adapt to partner country expectations likely gives it an edge in becoming the regional hub of East Asia.

e-ASEAN and Regional Integration in South East Asia

2011 ◽  
pp. 2131-2138
Author(s):  
Xiudian Dai
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Task Force ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Framework Agreement ◽  
Digital Revolution ◽  
New Feature ◽  
Set Up

As a relatively new feature of the digital revolution in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), e-ASEAN was initiated by the ASEAN economic ministers in September 1999 and endorsed by ASEAN leaders at their summit in Manila in November the same year, when the e-ASEAN Task Force was also set up (ASEAN Secretariat, 2003). At the Fourth ASEAN Informal Summit in Singapore in November 2000, a Framework Agreement was signed to serve as the legal foundation for the e-ASEAN initiative. To ensure success, the Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) was tasked to supervise, coordinate, and review the implementation of the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement. As stipulated in the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement, the SEOM reports to the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and assists the AEM in all matters concerning this Agreement (ASEAN, 2000, Article 13). While there is no lack of literature discussing trade liberalisation and transborder cooperation in the ASEAN region, the impact of new information and communications technologies (ICTs) on the development of regionalism, and vice versa, remains a rather neglected area of study (Dai, 2003). The purpose of this article is to investigate the implications of the e-ASEAN initiative for regional cooperation and integration in South East Asia in the information age. In particular, the key challenges to achieving the objectives of the e-ASEAN initiative will be analysed.

SINGAPORE AND ASEAN IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: The Case of Free Trade Agreements

Asian Survey ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 908-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teofilo C. Daquila ◽  
Le Huu Huy
Keyword(s):  
Trade Liberalization ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Regional Trade ◽  
Slow Pace ◽  
Asean Countries ◽  
Asian Economic Community

Abstract Given the slow pace of global and regional trade liberalization initiatives, Singapore has forged free trade agreements for economic and strategic reasons. Other ASEAN countries and ASEAN itself have also become interested in establishing FTAs with countries outside the grouping. In the future, ASEAN could form an ASEAN or an East Asian Economic Community.

scholarly journals Free Trade Agreements versus Customs Unions: An Examination of East Asia

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Innwon Park ◽  
Soonchan Park
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Computable General Equilibrium ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Computable General Equilibrium Model ◽  
Policy Option ◽  
Customs Unions ◽  
Ex Post

The spaghetti bowl phenomenon expected from the proliferating East Asian regional trade agreements (RTAs) is worrisome. In particular, the complicated web of hub-and-spoke type of overlapping free trade agreements (FTAs) can result in high costs for verifying rules of origin. As an alternative policy option to avoid the negative effect of trade deflection, customs unions (CUs) should be examined. Most of the theoretical analyses on the formation of CUs highlight stronger positive welfare effects compared to FTAs. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to support the second-best theory of customs unions. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap by applying two methodologies: an ex ante simulation approach and an ex-post econometric approach. We quantitatively estimate the trade effect of CUs and FTAs by adopting a Gravity regression analysis. In general, we find that a CU is a superior type of RTA to an FTA in terms of creating more intra-bloc trade. In addition to analyzing the trade effects of RTAs according to type, we quantitatively evaluate the welfare and output effects of CUs for East Asia (an ASEAN+3 CU and a China-Japan-Korea CU) compared to FTAs by applying a computable general equilibrium model analysis. The East Asian CUs adopt a system of common external tariffs (CET) based on simple-averaged, import-weighted, consumption-weighted, and minimum rates. Overall, we find that the ASEAN+3 CU with the minimum CET are the most desirable type of RTA for both East Asian member countries and the world economy as a whole.

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