The Pattern And Content Of East Asian Economic Integration

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.

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.

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

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

This agreement was created in 1994, its goal is to establish a stronger trade relationship between them. The US goal was to build a bloc to compete more equally with European and Asian markets (InvestingAnswers, 2018)

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.

Regional economic integration represents agreements between countries in a geographic region to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to the free flow of goods, services and factors of production between each other. Neighboring countries tend to ally because of their proximity to one another, somewhat similar regional tastes, the relative ease of establishing channels of distribution and a willingness to cooperate with one another for the greater benefit of all allied parties. Theoretically, the concept of regional economic

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.

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

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.

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

Many countries have established trading blocs to pool resources, establish free trade, and work together as a union to work for/against other trading blocs set up around the world. Regional integration has led to trade bloc agreements such as APEC, G20, CAIRNS GROUP, EUROPEAN UNION (EU), and NAFTA. Trading blocs go through a series of steps such as reducing tariffs on selected goods within a geographical region to eliminating trade barriers altogether (Economics Online, 2015). Trading blocs may also act as a union when negotiating with other trading blocs outside of the member group, or the World Trade Organization (WTO). A common market is created when members of the bloc trade all economic resources (goods, services, capital, and labor) freely.

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: