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Free Trade Agreements and the Prospects for Regional Integration in East Asia
Author(s) -
SALLY Razeen
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
asian economic policy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.58
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1748-3131
pISSN - 1832-8105
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-3131.2006.00036.x
Subject(s) - east asia , economics , international trade , international economics , regional integration , economic integration , regional trade , international free trade agreement , free trade , geography , china , archaeology
Trade policy in East Asia has switched from non‐discriminatory unilateral liberalization, reinforced by General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO) commitments, to discriminatory free trade agreements (FTA). The paper surveys the FTA activity of the major regional players: China, the ASEAN countries, Japan, and South Korea. It concludes that emerging FTAs are weak and partial. A hub‐and‐spoke pattern of dirty FTAs will not drive regional economic integration or further integration with the global economy. Rather, it could be a force of regional economic disintegration – especially if the multilateral trading system weakens further. At the same time, FTA activity is distracting attention from the WTO, and, more fundamentally, from unilateral liberalization and domestic structural reforms. Hence, East Asian trade policies need to be rebalanced, with better‐quality FTAs and more focus on the WTO. However, more important than the WTO and FTAs is a fresh spurt of unilateral liberalization and structural reform outside trade negotiations.