Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2021.1891702
Koichi Ishikawa
ABSTRACT ASEAN realized the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015. The AEC is an economic integration whose goals are free movement of goods, services, investment, and skilled workers, and freer movement of capital. Following the establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), ASEAN deepened its economic integration through the AEC. Evaluations of ASEAN’s economic integration are mixed. While highly praised for its steady integration progress, there are also assessments suggesting there is little progress in integration. This study examines the AEC’s economic integration and evaluates ASEAN economic integration, including the AFTA. The AEC is an “FTA-plus” economic integration, and its target and level of market integration are similar to those of the Economic Partnership Agreement. The AEC’s greatest achievement is using tariff elimination to realize a free trade area with a high level of trade liberalization. Liberalizing trade in services, eliminating non-tariff barriers, and facilitating trade have been delayed and have become issues for AEC2025. AEC2025 aims to participate in the global value chain, and its measure is the attraction of foreign direct investment. Although ASEAN’s economic integration has various issues, as a whole, it can be evaluated as successful because of its implementation of flexible liberalization over time. ASEAN’s economic integration is a successful example of economic integration by developing countries; other developing countries can learn lessons from ASEAN’s experiences.
{"title":"The ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN economic integration","authors":"Koichi Ishikawa","doi":"10.1080/24761028.2021.1891702","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24761028.2021.1891702","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT ASEAN realized the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015. The AEC is an economic integration whose goals are free movement of goods, services, investment, and skilled workers, and freer movement of capital. Following the establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), ASEAN deepened its economic integration through the AEC. Evaluations of ASEAN’s economic integration are mixed. While highly praised for its steady integration progress, there are also assessments suggesting there is little progress in integration. This study examines the AEC’s economic integration and evaluates ASEAN economic integration, including the AFTA. The AEC is an “FTA-plus” economic integration, and its target and level of market integration are similar to those of the Economic Partnership Agreement. The AEC’s greatest achievement is using tariff elimination to realize a free trade area with a high level of trade liberalization. Liberalizing trade in services, eliminating non-tariff barriers, and facilitating trade have been delayed and have become issues for AEC2025. AEC2025 aims to participate in the global value chain, and its measure is the attraction of foreign direct investment. Although ASEAN’s economic integration has various issues, as a whole, it can be evaluated as successful because of its implementation of flexible liberalization over time. ASEAN’s economic integration is a successful example of economic integration by developing countries; other developing countries can learn lessons from ASEAN’s experiences.","PeriodicalId":37218,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies","volume":"10 1","pages":"24 - 41"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24761028.2021.1891702","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46754835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2021.1904599
T. Igarashi
ABSTRACT The question of when the government of the Republic of China abandoned “Retaking the Mainland” has not been clearly answered in previous studies. In this article, I attempt to address this by reexamining the transformation of Taiwan’s military strategy. I focus on the preparations for the “Retaking the Mainland” operation, which have been studied extensively, and the efforts to increase defensive capabilities as part of the “Taiwan Defense” operation, which has lesser scholarship. With respect to this period of transformation of Taiwan’s military strategy, a now broadly accepted interpretation was laid out in the 2006 National Defense Report. However, a different perspective was outlined in a 2013 book jointly compiled by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense and Academia Historia. The result is that, with respect to the historical shift in military strategy, the official view of the Ministry of National Defense has become somewhat ambiguous. In this article, I advance an alternative view on this period by highlighting two points at which new policies were adopted. There was a move from a strategy of “Offensive Posture” that had been in place since 1949 to a strategy of “Unity of the Offensive and Defensive,” in the Spring of 1969. Subsequently, after the establishment of the “Guidelines for National Unification” in 1991, there was another shift, to a strategy of “Defensive Posture.” As I suggest, the ROC government abandoned the concept of using military force to “Retake the Mainland” in 1991, when it moved to a strategy of “Defensive Posture.”
{"title":"When did the ROC abandon “Retaking the Mainland”? The transformation of military strategy in Taiwan","authors":"T. Igarashi","doi":"10.1080/24761028.2021.1904599","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24761028.2021.1904599","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The question of when the government of the Republic of China abandoned “Retaking the Mainland” has not been clearly answered in previous studies. In this article, I attempt to address this by reexamining the transformation of Taiwan’s military strategy. I focus on the preparations for the “Retaking the Mainland” operation, which have been studied extensively, and the efforts to increase defensive capabilities as part of the “Taiwan Defense” operation, which has lesser scholarship. With respect to this period of transformation of Taiwan’s military strategy, a now broadly accepted interpretation was laid out in the 2006 National Defense Report. However, a different perspective was outlined in a 2013 book jointly compiled by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense and Academia Historia. The result is that, with respect to the historical shift in military strategy, the official view of the Ministry of National Defense has become somewhat ambiguous. In this article, I advance an alternative view on this period by highlighting two points at which new policies were adopted. There was a move from a strategy of “Offensive Posture” that had been in place since 1949 to a strategy of “Unity of the Offensive and Defensive,” in the Spring of 1969. Subsequently, after the establishment of the “Guidelines for National Unification” in 1991, there was another shift, to a strategy of “Defensive Posture.” As I suggest, the ROC government abandoned the concept of using military force to “Retake the Mainland” in 1991, when it moved to a strategy of “Defensive Posture.”","PeriodicalId":37218,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies","volume":"10 1","pages":"136 - 155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24761028.2021.1904599","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43348010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2021.1888410
Shihong Bi
ABSTRACT Since the establishment of China-ASEAN strategic partnership, and the acceleration of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) building, China-ASEAN economic cooperation relationship has entered a new era. In the building of the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), ASEAN has a pivotal position and role, and ASEAN countries are key cooperation partners. In order to achieve the building goals of the BRI and AEC, China not only attaches great importance to the cooperative relationship with ASEAN, establishing and upgrading the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, advocating the establishment of a China-ASEAN community with a shared future, and agrees that ASEAN maintaining its leadership role in East Asia regional cooperation. At the same time, China and ASEAN are gradually implementing the BRI to dock with the ASEAN Community Blueprint and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, and speeding up cooperation in trade, investment, and production capacity for win-win cooperation. However, China-ASEAN economic cooperation also faces challenges such as trade and investment competition, trade surplus, competition for dominance in economic cooperation, and the “China Threat” theory. In this regard, China and ASEAN need to coordinate the relationship among various cooperation mechanisms, optimize the structure of bilateral economic cooperation, implement a competitive negative list system, adjust the division of labor to achieve complementary advantages, so as to lay a solid foundation for building a China-ASEAN community with a shared future.
{"title":"Cooperation between China and ASEAN under the building of ASEAN Economic Community","authors":"Shihong Bi","doi":"10.1080/24761028.2021.1888410","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24761028.2021.1888410","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Since the establishment of China-ASEAN strategic partnership, and the acceleration of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) building, China-ASEAN economic cooperation relationship has entered a new era. In the building of the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), ASEAN has a pivotal position and role, and ASEAN countries are key cooperation partners. In order to achieve the building goals of the BRI and AEC, China not only attaches great importance to the cooperative relationship with ASEAN, establishing and upgrading the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, advocating the establishment of a China-ASEAN community with a shared future, and agrees that ASEAN maintaining its leadership role in East Asia regional cooperation. At the same time, China and ASEAN are gradually implementing the BRI to dock with the ASEAN Community Blueprint and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, and speeding up cooperation in trade, investment, and production capacity for win-win cooperation. However, China-ASEAN economic cooperation also faces challenges such as trade and investment competition, trade surplus, competition for dominance in economic cooperation, and the “China Threat” theory. In this regard, China and ASEAN need to coordinate the relationship among various cooperation mechanisms, optimize the structure of bilateral economic cooperation, implement a competitive negative list system, adjust the division of labor to achieve complementary advantages, so as to lay a solid foundation for building a China-ASEAN community with a shared future.","PeriodicalId":37218,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies","volume":"10 1","pages":"83 - 107"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24761028.2021.1888410","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42689758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2021.1907881
Kazushi Shimizu
ABSTRACT The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been leading economic integration within many structural changes in the world economy. ASEAN, established in 1967, has promoted regional economic integration since 1976. It started to work toward realizing the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 1992 and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2003. ASEAN finally established the AEC at the end of 2015. The AEC is the most developed and advanced economic integration in East Asia. ASEAN is deepening the AEC for the next goal, AEC 2025. ASEAN also led East Asian cooperation initiatives, including ASEAN+3 and ASEAN+6, and ASEAN+1 FTAs. ASEAN proposed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and led the RCEP negotiations. Currently, rising protectionism and the US–China trade friction has great negative impacts on ASEAN and East Asia. Furthermore, the outbreak of COVID-19 has done great damage to ASEAN and East Asia. ASEAN is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening the AEC steadily amidst growing protectionism and COVID-19 pandemic. The RCEP agreement was finally signed in November 2020. The RCEP is the first East Asian mega FTA. The RCEP has great meaning in ASEAN and East Asia. ASEAN secured ASEAN centrality in East Asian economic integration. The AEC and the RCEP will become more important amidst rising protectionism, and during and in the post-pandemic era.
{"title":"The ASEAN Economic Community and the RCEP in the world economy","authors":"Kazushi Shimizu","doi":"10.1080/24761028.2021.1907881","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24761028.2021.1907881","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been leading economic integration within many structural changes in the world economy. ASEAN, established in 1967, has promoted regional economic integration since 1976. It started to work toward realizing the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 1992 and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2003. ASEAN finally established the AEC at the end of 2015. The AEC is the most developed and advanced economic integration in East Asia. ASEAN is deepening the AEC for the next goal, AEC 2025. ASEAN also led East Asian cooperation initiatives, including ASEAN+3 and ASEAN+6, and ASEAN+1 FTAs. ASEAN proposed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and led the RCEP negotiations. Currently, rising protectionism and the US–China trade friction has great negative impacts on ASEAN and East Asia. Furthermore, the outbreak of COVID-19 has done great damage to ASEAN and East Asia. ASEAN is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening the AEC steadily amidst growing protectionism and COVID-19 pandemic. The RCEP agreement was finally signed in November 2020. The RCEP is the first East Asian mega FTA. The RCEP has great meaning in ASEAN and East Asia. ASEAN secured ASEAN centrality in East Asian economic integration. The AEC and the RCEP will become more important amidst rising protectionism, and during and in the post-pandemic era.","PeriodicalId":37218,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies","volume":"10 1","pages":"1 - 23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24761028.2021.1907881","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48625976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2021.1888409
Atsuko Shimbo
ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is twofold. First, I explain the nature of the education and engagement of young Chinese minorities in north China under Japanese occupation during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Second, I examine what influence the occupation policy of Japanese puppet government had on forming Hui identity. During the Republic of China, the minority Hui were facing social inequality. Japan focused on the affairs of the Hui people and implemented a policy that gave them preferential treatment to advance the division and control of China. In 1938 the General Federation of Islam in China was founded under the Provincial Government of the Republic of China to advance the “Muslim campaign” of the Japanese Army. Its objectives were to support the regime, oppose communism, and the Young Muslim Association of China was established, training of young Muslims for military service. But young Hui trained in such association often rebelled against the Japanese occupation, and the Hui people who received modern education used education as a tool to fulfill their own goals instead. Therefore, the Hui established a dual identity of being Muslim and Chinese, and they chose to side with China rather than Japan. This study explores the complex process by which the minority Hui formed their double identity. This study is based primarily on literature review.
{"title":"Ethnic minorities in China under Japanese occupation: the Muslim campaign and education during the Second Sino-Japanese War","authors":"Atsuko Shimbo","doi":"10.1080/24761028.2021.1888409","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24761028.2021.1888409","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is twofold. First, I explain the nature of the education and engagement of young Chinese minorities in north China under Japanese occupation during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Second, I examine what influence the occupation policy of Japanese puppet government had on forming Hui identity. During the Republic of China, the minority Hui were facing social inequality. Japan focused on the affairs of the Hui people and implemented a policy that gave them preferential treatment to advance the division and control of China. In 1938 the General Federation of Islam in China was founded under the Provincial Government of the Republic of China to advance the “Muslim campaign” of the Japanese Army. Its objectives were to support the regime, oppose communism, and the Young Muslim Association of China was established, training of young Muslims for military service. But young Hui trained in such association often rebelled against the Japanese occupation, and the Hui people who received modern education used education as a tool to fulfill their own goals instead. Therefore, the Hui established a dual identity of being Muslim and Chinese, and they chose to side with China rather than Japan. This study explores the complex process by which the minority Hui formed their double identity. This study is based primarily on literature review.","PeriodicalId":37218,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies","volume":"10 1","pages":"123 - 135"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24761028.2021.1888409","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49140492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2021.1892964
Masataka Fujita
ABSTRACT The crucial determinant factor for ASEAN to support the Indo-Pacific strategy is whether ASEAN can retain and exercise the centrality. This paper addresses the issue on the centrality as to whether ASEAN can retain its centrality in the Indo-Pacific region. The issue is whether ASEAN can continue to assume an important position in Indo-Pacific economic transactions, more specifically in global value chains (GVCs) in the Indo-Pacific region. As GVC is expected to reflect the economic integration and interconnectivity of the region, higher participation of ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific GVC as compared with its own GVC, or at least a similar level of participation, is considered as retention of centrality. However, the reality is not such the case, and ASEAN is losing its centrality in the Indo-Pacific region in terms of GVC participation. This is partly due to the fact that Indo-Pacific is less integrated than ASEAN. Under this situation, the paper provides some policy implications for ASEAN to retain the centrality in Indo-Pacific. One of such policies is to increase and promote foreign direct investment (FDI) as it is the key to create GVCs. FDI flows as percentage of GDP in Indo-Pacific is much smaller in Indo-Pacific than in ASEAN.
{"title":"Can ASEAN retain centrality in Indo-Pacific region? - From a GVC point of view","authors":"Masataka Fujita","doi":"10.1080/24761028.2021.1892964","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24761028.2021.1892964","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The crucial determinant factor for ASEAN to support the Indo-Pacific strategy is whether ASEAN can retain and exercise the centrality. This paper addresses the issue on the centrality as to whether ASEAN can retain its centrality in the Indo-Pacific region. The issue is whether ASEAN can continue to assume an important position in Indo-Pacific economic transactions, more specifically in global value chains (GVCs) in the Indo-Pacific region. As GVC is expected to reflect the economic integration and interconnectivity of the region, higher participation of ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific GVC as compared with its own GVC, or at least a similar level of participation, is considered as retention of centrality. However, the reality is not such the case, and ASEAN is losing its centrality in the Indo-Pacific region in terms of GVC participation. This is partly due to the fact that Indo-Pacific is less integrated than ASEAN. Under this situation, the paper provides some policy implications for ASEAN to retain the centrality in Indo-Pacific. One of such policies is to increase and promote foreign direct investment (FDI) as it is the key to create GVCs. FDI flows as percentage of GDP in Indo-Pacific is much smaller in Indo-Pacific than in ASEAN.","PeriodicalId":37218,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies","volume":"10 1","pages":"108 - 122"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24761028.2021.1892964","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48561794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2021.1905199
Yoshifumi Fukunaga
ABSTRACT Using the official data of the ASEAN Secretariat, this paper applies a data-based approach to present the general trends of use of legal instruments in building the ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN integration as a whole. ASEAN has intensified the use of legal instruments in the last five decades to reach 240 signed legal instruments by December 2020. With the frequent use of supplementary instruments, ASEAN takes a gradual and practical approach to integration. Consensus remains the key principle of decision-making in making legal instruments. There is no single legal instrument signed without consensus, even in the economic pillar. By contrast, ASEAN allows phased implementation. While a majority of ASEAN legal instruments enter into force only with full membership, many instruments also allow flexible participation (i.e., effective only among certain members). Such mechanism of flexibility is probably a way to progress integration in a group of diversity while continuing to respect the consensus principle in decision-making.
{"title":"Use of legal instruments in the ASEAN Economic Community building","authors":"Yoshifumi Fukunaga","doi":"10.1080/24761028.2021.1905199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24761028.2021.1905199","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Using the official data of the ASEAN Secretariat, this paper applies a data-based approach to present the general trends of use of legal instruments in building the ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN integration as a whole. ASEAN has intensified the use of legal instruments in the last five decades to reach 240 signed legal instruments by December 2020. With the frequent use of supplementary instruments, ASEAN takes a gradual and practical approach to integration. Consensus remains the key principle of decision-making in making legal instruments. There is no single legal instrument signed without consensus, even in the economic pillar. By contrast, ASEAN allows phased implementation. While a majority of ASEAN legal instruments enter into force only with full membership, many instruments also allow flexible participation (i.e., effective only among certain members). Such mechanism of flexibility is probably a way to progress integration in a group of diversity while continuing to respect the consensus principle in decision-making.","PeriodicalId":37218,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies","volume":"10 1","pages":"65 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24761028.2021.1905199","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41672043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2021.1902068
S. Sukegawa
ABSTRACT The greatest achievement of ASEAN’s intra-regional economic cooperation since its inception in 1976 is the realization of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), which started with tariff cuts in 1993. AFTA was completed in January 2018 with the elimination of intra-regional tariffs. The AFTA itself is an FTA of an unusually high standard internationally, with the level of liberalization exceeding even that of the TPP 11. However, when examined from the aspect of utilization, in the case of Thailand’s exports to ASEAN, more than 30% do not use AFTA for one reason or another. This indicates that there are points of improvement in the system of the AFTA and in the customs procedures that are indispensable in using the AFTA. Furthermore, some member countries have introduced non-tariff barriers to protect their domestic industries while eliminating tariffs, which is contrary to the principles of AFTA. ASEAN has been expanding the scope of its economic cooperation since 2008 with the aim of establishing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), but even so, what the industrial world is seeking in the “post-AFTA” periods are trade-related measures such as the “facilitation of customs procedures” and the “elimination of non-tariff barriers.” Nowadays, when mega FTAs such as RCEP and TPP11 is being constructed one after another, ASEAN needs to transform itself into the most advanced regional cooperation organization in terms of liberalization level, scope, and rules if it is to maintain its centripetal force for direct investment.
{"title":"ASEAN’s initiatives for free trade in East Asia under AEC","authors":"S. Sukegawa","doi":"10.1080/24761028.2021.1902068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24761028.2021.1902068","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The greatest achievement of ASEAN’s intra-regional economic cooperation since its inception in 1976 is the realization of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), which started with tariff cuts in 1993. AFTA was completed in January 2018 with the elimination of intra-regional tariffs. The AFTA itself is an FTA of an unusually high standard internationally, with the level of liberalization exceeding even that of the TPP 11. However, when examined from the aspect of utilization, in the case of Thailand’s exports to ASEAN, more than 30% do not use AFTA for one reason or another. This indicates that there are points of improvement in the system of the AFTA and in the customs procedures that are indispensable in using the AFTA. Furthermore, some member countries have introduced non-tariff barriers to protect their domestic industries while eliminating tariffs, which is contrary to the principles of AFTA. ASEAN has been expanding the scope of its economic cooperation since 2008 with the aim of establishing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), but even so, what the industrial world is seeking in the “post-AFTA” periods are trade-related measures such as the “facilitation of customs procedures” and the “elimination of non-tariff barriers.” Nowadays, when mega FTAs such as RCEP and TPP11 is being constructed one after another, ASEAN needs to transform itself into the most advanced regional cooperation organization in terms of liberalization level, scope, and rules if it is to maintain its centripetal force for direct investment.","PeriodicalId":37218,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies","volume":"10 1","pages":"42 - 64"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24761028.2021.1902068","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41648778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-07-02DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2020.1848370
Laura-Anca Parepa
ABSTRACT The emergence of China as a major power has been accompanied by an unprecedented level of external activism, concretized in several regional and transcontinental projects among which the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the most comprehensive one. This article aims to assess the contribution of previous foreign policy initiatives to the BRI, and to evaluate potential implications for Chinese strategic autonomy. It argues that while the Chinese-led initiative based on increasing interdependence and connectivity has a high potential to contribute to common development and regional integration, it also presents some destabilizing risks. The cooperation patterns promoted within the BRI strengthen Chinese strategic autonomy by enhancing its key positions along networks of capital and infrastructure around the world, foster asymmetric partnerships, maximize its influence and consolidate its control over land routes from Central Asia to Europe and the SLOC beyond the South China Sea. In discussing the implications raised by these aspects the article contends that in the long term, the BRI offers China significant opportunities to shape geo-economic landscape and the security architecture.
{"title":"The Belt and Road Initiative as continuity in Chinese foreign policy","authors":"Laura-Anca Parepa","doi":"10.1080/24761028.2020.1848370","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24761028.2020.1848370","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The emergence of China as a major power has been accompanied by an unprecedented level of external activism, concretized in several regional and transcontinental projects among which the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the most comprehensive one. This article aims to assess the contribution of previous foreign policy initiatives to the BRI, and to evaluate potential implications for Chinese strategic autonomy. It argues that while the Chinese-led initiative based on increasing interdependence and connectivity has a high potential to contribute to common development and regional integration, it also presents some destabilizing risks. The cooperation patterns promoted within the BRI strengthen Chinese strategic autonomy by enhancing its key positions along networks of capital and infrastructure around the world, foster asymmetric partnerships, maximize its influence and consolidate its control over land routes from Central Asia to Europe and the SLOC beyond the South China Sea. In discussing the implications raised by these aspects the article contends that in the long term, the BRI offers China significant opportunities to shape geo-economic landscape and the security architecture.","PeriodicalId":37218,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies","volume":"9 1","pages":"175 - 201"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24761028.2020.1848370","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47639303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-07-02DOI: 10.1080/24761028.2020.1843217
Masafumi Iida
ABSTRACT Xi Jinping’s political authority was not preeminent among cadres of the Communist Party of China when he assumed the General Secretary of the Central Committee in November 2012. After his inauguration, Xi advocated a slogan of “Chinese Dream” for realizing the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and pursued the policies for expanding the “core interests,” which appealed to growing nationalism among the party and the society, resulting in enhancing their support to Xi. China’s assertive behavior to claim territorial sovereignty and maritime interests in the East and South China Seas caused tension with the regional countries, but Xi took advantage of the conflictive relations with neighbors to strengthen his leadership in the Chinese politics. Xi administration achieved the integration of four maritime law enforcement agencies into the China Coast Guard and the establishment of the Central National Security Commission, which needed to overcome persistent opposition within the party. Xi also launched “Major Country Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics” as a new direction of Chinese foreign policies, seeking for greater leadership of China as a major power in the international community, which helped Xi to consolidate political authority. Xi cleverly employed assertive diplomacy to raise his authority in the Chinese politics.
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