Title: Taking the Initiative in the Regional Development: What Implications Do China and Japan Bring for the Economic Integration in East Asia?
Author: Masaomi Kitagawa
Date: August 2006
Abstract: As the two major countries in the region, China and Japan are currently starting to strengthen and deepen their economies with ASEAN and build solid relations between among them, the final objective of which is to develop the regional integration and realize an economic community in East Asia. At the most basic levels, there are the three main factors relating to this emerging regionalism. The first factor is increasing uncertainty about the future of a multilateral framework under the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Doha Development Agenda held in Doha, Qatar in November 2001, still fails to reach an agreement for concluding negotiations among the 149 members of WTO. The second factor is the strengthening and expansion of the European Union (EU) in Europe, and the creation of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in North America and the enlargement of Pan-Americanism. The deepening and widening of trade blocs in Europe and North America caused the East Asia nations huge concern that their exports would face fierce competition due to the large markets of EU and NAFTA. The third factor, which is a catalyst in considering issues of the new regional integration in East Asia, is East Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-98. The financial crisis fostered a new belief that the East Asian nations need to band together so that the contagious spread of crises could be minimized by creating a regional financial framework. This paper assesses that the key to successfully developing regional economies lies in the assessment of implications China and Japan to bring for the economic integration in East Asia by exploring issues of the initiative in the regional development.

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