Japan And East Asian Integration

Provides analyses on the politico-economic relationship between Japan and China, and a comparison of economic strengths between China and India in East Asian economic integration. Provides an overall analysis on East Asian economic integration, including some observations on the recent development and future prospects of the region.

East Asia is now one of the most dynamic parts of the increasingly regionalized world economy. This book explores the structure and upgrading mechanism of the highly integrated economy, reviewing the previous paradigm centered on Japan. The focal points are on the flying geese paradigm, the regional production networks, a reinterpretation of the East Asian crisis, the post-crisis transformation of the regional economy and a search for further regional cooperation. This volume aims at presenting, through these analyses, an alternative view for and a perspective on future East Asian regionalism.

For almost fifty years Japan pursued a single-track approach focusing trade negotiation efforts exclusively on the global multilateral forum while shunning regionalism as harmful to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs/ World Trade Organisation system. However, following the tsunami disaster of March 2011 and widespread economic downturn Tokyo has engaged much more actively in pursuing bilateral Free-Trade Agreements (FTAs). This book explores the turnaround in Japanese strategy and trade policy. Drawing on case studies and including interviews with FTA policymakers within the government and key interest groups it focusses on the domestic political process of FTA and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to investigate the cause of the policy shift. This work will prove useful to students, scholars and policymakers interested in international political economy, Japanese trade policy, East Asian regionalism and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Japan’s Future in East Asia and the Pacific takes a ’big-picture‘ approach to Japan’s economic place in East Asia alongside that of China. It analyses Japan’s successes and experiments in trade policy as well as its failures in macro-economic policy. Japan’s diplomatic and economic integration strategies are also examined for their impact on East Asia and on Australia. The collection assesses China’s growth and dynamism and questions the nature of the competition for economic influence between Japan and China. Contributors to Japan’s Future in East Asia and the Pacific are all graduates of The Australian National University who are making their mark in the region as scholars and economists on East Asian and Pacific affairs.

This book examines how Japan has changed its economic relationship with East Asia since the mid 1990s by looking at its commitments to import relief, regional financial and industrial transformations, and regionalism. While the Japanese government has taken proactive initiatives to sustain the sound development of the regional economies, it has become more strategic in preserving its interests in the rapid industrial transformation. The book includes valuable information about Japan's trade remedy measures, Sino-Japan relations, and regional integration in East Asia.

This book explores the turnaround in Japanese strategy and trade policy from a single-track approach to greater engagement in pursuing bilateral Free-Trade Agreements.

The growth of world trade has been stagnant in recent times; trade liberalisation now has been challenged. The recent rise of anti-globalisation calls for a better integration in East Asia. How should East Asia manage its openness? This book provides profound analyses on rules of origins, non-tariff measures, restrictiveness in services and investment. It gives insight into how East Asian countries should shape its trade, investment and industrial policies. This book helps to answer what kind of a better integration it should be, and how East Asia can realise it.

A Brookings Institution Press and the Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry (Japan) publication East Asian economic integration is on the rise. In the past decade, all of the region's powers have begun negotiating free trade agreements with their neighbors. They are also exploring broader regional options, such as the creation of an East Asian summit or free trade area. These developments have not always been welcomed by observers in other parts of the world. Some fear that they mark a turn away from integration into the global economy and herald the emergence of a closed, inward-looking bloc. In this timely and important book, Naoko Munakata offers an alternative perspective, based on her experience as an economic official and trade negotiator over the past 20 years. East Asian integration, she argues, is not driven by defensiveness or anti-Western sentiment. Instead, it reflects pragmatic calculations of economic interest, as well as a desire for mutual trust and a sense of community. Munakata makes her case by analyzing developments in the region since the mid-1980s, highlighting such important factors as the evolution of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the impact of the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis, and the rise of China. She also outlines possible future scenarios for the region and offers policy prescriptions for building on regionalism's achievements to date. Over the coming decades, the rise of China, its relationship with Japan, and the institutional arrangements that bind those countries to the United States and the countries of East and Southeast Asia will become critical factors in the global balance of power. Transforming East Asia is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the roots of this transformation.

Multinationals and East Asian Integration

East Asia is now experiencing significant economic growth and social change. Integration of East Asia seems an irresistible trend, as East Asian countries are closely interdependent with each other and share many common interests in economic development. This book analyzes the cooperation and challenges of East Asian countries in the process of integration. It includes 15 chapters in four sections. The first section discusses the impact of East Asia cooperation and economic integration. The second section emphasizes the election of political leadership in East Asia. The third section covers the topics of East Asian cultural identity, history and norms. The fourth section studies the relationship between East Asia and the World. The chapters are selected from two Trilateral symposia held in Seoul and Shanghai in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The Symposia offer comprehensive and diversified views of scholars from China, Korea and Japan.