Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Arvind Subramanian, PIIE and CGD
Trade with India represents a big prize for the United States because of the size and strength of the Indian economy, but there are still challenges for US companies doing business in India.
The United States can address these challenges by adopting a multi-pronged strategy for solving trade conflicts and maximising the underlying potential of the bilateral trade relationship. Read more…
Author: Rodolfo C. Severino, ISEAS
For the first time in the organisation’s history, ASEAN foreign ministers failed to issue the normal joint communiqué at the end of their annual meeting last July.
Many people fear the same historic debacle could repeat itself this year and the next. Read more…
Author: Vikram Nehru, Carnegie Endowment
India’s recent growth deceleration highlights a simple truth: the reforms of the 1990s are no longer enough.
While the current slowdown is partially cyclical, growth is unlikely to return to above 8 per cent per year without further reform. Read more…
Authors: Christopher Findlay, University of Adelaide, and Shandre Thangavelu, NUS
Mega-regionalism is a major feature of trade strategies in the Asia Pacific today. The ‘spaghetti bowl’ of interwoven bilateral FTAs offers no real future, a realisation that has led to greater action on multi-country agreements. Read more…
Author: Kevin H.R. Villanueva, University of Leeds
Amid the spiralling chaos in Lahad Datu, Sabah, a crucial question has been put forth which no one has yet explored: what can ASEAN do?
The answer is, put plainly and simply, nothing. Read more…
Author: Awidya Santikajaya, ANU
Indonesia is currently the world’s 16th-largest economy by GDP, and is predicted to become the seventh largest by 2030. Many have billed Indonesia as ‘a rising middle power’ — but how will, and should, Indonesia’s (perceived) rise impact on its foreign policy posture?
Author: Kevin H.R. Villanueva, University of Leeds
On 18 November 2012, the 10 ASEAN heads of state signed the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration — a kind of Asian magna carta.
What does this landmark declaration symbolise? Read more…
Author: David Arase, Nanjing University
Soon after taking power at the 18th Party Congress, Xi Jinping ceremoniously led the new Politburo Standing Committee to view a museum exhibit in Beijing entitled ‘The Road to Renewal’ (复兴之路).
It chronicled China’s descent into the ‘century of humiliation’ following the Opium War and, since 1949, its subsequent revival and rise to power under the leadership of the Communist Party. Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum
The facts of geography shape much that is important in a country’s external economic and political relations, and a destiny from which it often seems there is no escape. Read more…
Author: Amitav Acharya, American University
As is well known, the Obama administration is now firmly focused on engaging Asia.
The United States is engaging with ASEAN and related Asian regional institutions, encouraging high-quality trade liberalisation — mainly within the framework of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — and returning its military attention to the region. Read more…
Author: Jagdish Bhagwati, Columbia University
Under regional FTAs like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), far fewer countries are involved compared to multilateral trade negotiations like the Doha Round.
The potential trade-offs in negotiations are more manageable and participant states may be more likely to make offers and examine concessions. Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum
Events in Asia are developing at a dizzying speed. All around the world, countries and continents have been impacted by the speed and scale of the rise of China and, to a lesser extent, India.
Author: Claude Barfield, AEI
The first nine months of 2013 will mark a crucial period for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiations being conducted by the United States and 10 other trans-Pacific nations.
During President Obama’s recent trip to Asia, TPP nations set a deadline of October 2013 to conclude the negotiations. Read more…
Author: Sourabh Gupta, Samuels International, Washington
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, like the Doha Round, appears always to be concluded next year.
An end-2012 deadline to ‘finish a legal text’ that was laid out at the 2011 Honolulu APEC Summit passed without incident or accomplishment. Read more…
Author: Jayant Menon, ADB
The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-98 provided the impetus for the region to look to increased regional cooperation to reduce its vulnerability to future financial shocks.
The Chiang Mai Initiative, a reserve pooling system, was launched in its aftermath, which has since grown to $240 billion and been multilateralised, together with a regional surveillance mechanism, the Economic Review and Policy Dialogue process. Read more…