Regional economic integration in Pacific Asia

Abstract

The emergence of a new infrastructural arena in Europe has prompted searches for similar ‘macroeconomic corridors’ in the United States and Japan. Although they can easily be discovered in the United States, confining attention to Japan omits new regional forms brought about by economic integration in Pacific Asia. After examining the driving forces behind regional economic integration—rival firms, rival states, and supranational organisations—interest is focused on the ‘Japan Corridor’ and emerging zones of economic cooperation in the Yellow Sea and South China Sea as the building blocks of an East Asian development corridor. The rudiments of a Southeast Asian corridor are also examined by centring attention on the ‘Growth Triangle’ (Singapore-Johor-Riau), the ‘Northern Triangle’ (northern Malaysia-southern Thailand-northern Sumatra), and other manifestations of regional economic cooperation. More speculative discussion considers how a Pacific Asian corridor could emerge from further zones of economic cooperation in both Indochina and the Japan Sea. Its pivot could be the Hong Kong-Shanghai-Taipei triangle—a reflection of the likely emergence of a greater Chinese economic grouping.