4.1.1. The Pattern and Content of East Asian Economic Integration
The most representative regional economic organization in East Asia is ASEAN, which was established in Bangkok and formed by five founding members, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia also joined successively to form the ten countries of ASEAN. ASEAN is abbreviated by Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which was built to contain the Communist forces with the purpose to steady military affairs and political neutrality initially. According to Tong (2005), the content of East Asian economic integration can be classified as Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEP). Previously, East Asian economic integration focuses on the operation of FTA which applies the zero tariffs on member countries; nowadays, economic cooperation agreement is inclined to CEP which contains wider issues of economic cooperation such as tariff reduction, deregulation of investment policy, enlargement of factors of production and etc. to draw the relation between member nations and achieve a higher level of integration (Jin, 2003). Moreover, the continuing goal of ASEAN is to promote the inter-regional economic development, enhance the partnership and maintain the peace in the region (Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center, 2014). Before Asian financial crisis, ASEAN is a representative of the regional economic organization that especially focuses on
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim economies. APEC members are described as ‘economies’ because the APEC cooperative process is predominantly concerned with trade and economic issues, with members engaging with one another as economic entities. APEC promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It was established in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; to fears that highly industrialised Japan (a member of G8) would come to dominate economic activity in the Asia-Pacific region; and to establish new markets for agricultural products and raw materials beyond Europe.(Andrew Elek)
The population of the Asia region of the world contributes a massive amount of exporting goods, and global business as a whole. The sheer number of people consuming goods that must be imported to support the large population force the need for trade with other regions. The demand for resources is high and the need to develop strong trade relations with other countries is vital to the continued growth and success of Asian countries.
After the end of the World War II the world faced the challenges of economic and social recovery. The majority of developing countries based their economies on Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI), the state-oriented approach to a trade and economic policy. ISI supports the replacement of import with domestic production in order to reduce foreign dependency. This protectionist policy dominated in developing countries, especially in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, during the first 30 years after the World War II. By 1980s, when the main gains of ISI were exhausted and it demonstrated its inefficiency, the countries of East Asia adopted a new development strategy. Consequently, this new export-oriented and market-friendly strategy, so-called East Asian model, has determined the successful economic and trade policy of East Asian countries during the next several decades. To understand the reasons of the shift from ISI to the East Asian model, it is needed to carefully examine and contrast these two approaches and their supporting theories.
East and west. The relationship between the two has never been truly set in stone. Both Europe and Asia have been through many large-scale power shifts throughout the millennia. Empires have risen – and inevitably been razed. If not by conquerors, then by time itself. These empires were often led by those who yearned to increase their land and holdings, and because of this the tendrils of civilization often stretched to seek uncharted territory. This undying curiosity eventually culminated in what is now referred to as the “Age of Discovery,” which spanned from the 1500s to the 1800s. By the beginning of the 20th century, most of the world’s lands had already been discovered. Trade links between China and Europe had been around since the Hellenic Age. And in the year 1900 it had been 124 years since the founding of the United States of America. Cross the Pacific Ocean, and one would find themselves face-to-face with the United States’ distant neighbor, East Asia. In East Asia, two of the most historically significant nations are China and Japan. For a number of reasons, – which will be detailed further later on – the early 1900s were a somewhat tumultuous time for both of said nations. The 20th century was by and large a time of political and economic power consolidation for both China and Japan. It is arguable that the United States played an integral role in this consolidation. The interactions between the United States, China, and Japan highlight a time when the way that
Regional trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) reduced barriers to trade in the form of a cooperative alliance and an elimination of taxes on trade goods between the United States, Canada and Mexico. The influence of this trade agreement was beneficial to businesses because it became easier to trade goods across international borders and it increased the development of standards. The European Union alliance works in a similar way to facilitate trade by standardizing laws and agreements, as well as using a standard currency among all of the countries. The development of these alliances was to increase competitiveness and to decrease inequality. The winners are the larger corporations who have the resources to dominate larger markets. The losers are the small individual and family owned businesses that do not have the same resources to ante up in a global market.
It is beneficial to us when assessing said statement to begin by considering the main reasons for the formation of social and economic groupings. First and foremost considering the 4 main types of alliances. Between Free Trade Areas and Customs Unions it is fair to say that the main goal is to restrict imports from non-member countries, in turn allowing the economies of the member countries to flourish and provide for themselves, amongst themselves, in terms of trade. Common Markets on the other hand keep import tariffs in place, instead allowing the free movement of labour and
While not a direct member, Australia is also heavily involved in trading with members of ASEAN, a union of ten South East Asian countries whose goal is to produce economic growth amongst themselves. Australia is also a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO is an international organisation dedicated to providing a trading environment where trading can be undertaken without unfair taxing and tariffs, restriction or discrimination. Due to its position as an international economic powerhouse, Australia is able to deal with several countries around the world; its trade dealings rank in the billions.
The current biggest free trade blocs consist of the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Since the end of World War II and Cold War, the whole face serious problem as economic crisis, devastation on human capital and public goods, and world trade system. To remove the trade barrier and strengthen economic cooperation cross the border, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was established on 1 January, 1994 in order to remove all barriers to trade, promote fare competition in free trade area, and provide effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property right. Latter, WTO was established on 1 January 1995 that deals with the rule of trade between nations. South Korea is one of Asian Dragon that creates a lot of Free Trade Agreement with core economic countries. In February 2003, South Korea signed FTA with Chile
On November 4th 2001, one year after the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China announced their intent to form the largest free trade area in the world, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and his ASEAN counterparts signed the deal that became effective on the first of January 2010. This event marked a paradigm shift in thinking among the nations of ASEAN, the original intent of which was to keep an eye on communist aims, specifically Chinese aims in the region during the Cold War. As a result of the new trade deal, Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK) quickly followed suit to form free trade agreements (FTAs) of their own with ASEAN. Although China, Japan and the RoK are part of
One of the economical trends in the past years is to have open markets and to trade among different states. This can be seen more then ever in the Americas where the majority of states are involved in regional trade blocs and also bilateral trade agreements. Since the 1990’s the Free Trade Area of the America’s (FTAA) as been in negotiation, which involves two main groups Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), which is an economic and political agreement between states such as Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and associate states Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Then there is The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA is an
Since 1993, China has experienced uninterrupted trade supplies and in 2013, China has overtaken the US as the world’s largest trading nation. As an economy highly integrated into the global trade system, the country benefited from a steady improvement in its term of trade since 2000. The country has multiple bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that opened new markets for its product. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between China and ASEAN nations which came into effect in the beginning of 2010, created the world’s third largest free trade area in terms of nominal GDP. China established FTA with nations like Korea, Peru, Pakistan, Singapore and etc.
Some differences from these agreements compare to Indonesia’s BITs are hereby explained. First, ASEAN-India FTA limits the field of co-operation, covering only manufacturing, agriculture, fishery, forestry, and mining and quarrying. Next almost all agreements include national treatment provision. To illustrate, AANZFTA states that:
Each of the three ASEAN Community pillars has its own Blueprint and, together with the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Strategic Framework and IAI Work Plan II (2009-2015), they formed the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009-2015. At the 14th ASEAN Summit in February 2009, ASEAN leaders adopted the APSC Blueprint, the ASCC Blueprint and the Initiatives for ASEAN integration (IAI) Work Plan II, 2009-2015. The AEC Blueprint having already been approved at the 13th ASEAN Summit in November 2007. On December 15, 2008, an ASEAN Charter, signed in November 2007, came into force with the aim of moving closer to "an EU-style community". The charter turned ASEAN into a legal entity with the aims of creating a single free-trade area for the
Perkins delivers his observation of similarities and differences in economic development of Northeast and Southeast Asia with simple but comprehensive explanation. His book is insightful and easy to follow, starts from all countries’ cultural history background to other factors, such as natural resources, geography, institution, education, and industrialisation development. However, there are some critics on the book due to the less emphasizing on equality, inclusiveness, and transition of agriculture sector development.