Word: regionalization
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...them. As Asia searches for a new growth engine to replace the economically sputtering U.S., and as the U.S. looks increasingly to Asia for consumers to sell to and governments to borrow from, the question hovering over the summit is, Can the leaders of the world's fastest-growing region find a new economic model that works for both East and West? (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...anxiety over APEC's economic future has rejuvenated an idea once dismissed as unwieldy and unrealistic: the knitting together of a free-trade zone, similar to the European Union, straddling the Asia-Pacific region. Proposed by APEC's Business Advisory Council, this zone would include most of Asia (but not India) and a sliver of Central and South America, as well as big non-Asian economies like the U.S., Russia and Canada. If all of APEC's member countries participated - a big if - its combined annual GDP would be $37 trillion, 21/2 times that of the E.U., the world...
...logic for closer Asian economic integration is becoming more compelling as intraregional trade becomes more important when compared with Asia's trade with the West. According to HSBC, the share of Asia's exports to the U.S. and Europe declined to 30% of the regional total in 2008, down from nearly 40% in 1998. Over the same period, intraregional exports as a share of total exports in emerging Asia rose to 54% from 46%. "Intra-Asian trade flows are the fastest growing in the world," says Lawrence Webb, global head of trade and supply chain at HSBC. This trend...
...Realistically, it could take many years to form an E.U.-style trading bloc in the region - if such a body can be formed at all. Historical enmities simmering between nations like China and Japan could make close cooperation impossible, as could divergent economic interests of poor developing countries like Vietnam and those of advancing industrial economies like South Korea. Another commonly cited impediment is cultural diversity. "Europe is in a sense a single civilization; Asia is not," says Ravi Menon, Permanent Secretary of Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry. Others question whether Asia's institutions are robust enough...
...Tokyo speech Saturday, Obama addressed both concerns, but he did not lay out specific benchmarks for achieving them. "None of this will come easy," Obama said of his foreign policy goals in the region, "nor without setback or struggle." In the meantime, he seemed to be suggesting, it was important to make a public show of unity and a promise of greater engagement to come. Perhaps after that, he can begin to find solutions to the more challenging problems. As Obama concluded his speech, his rhetoric soared even higher. "At this moment of renewal," he said, "in this land...