Re-Emergence of the Asian Economies : Will History Repeat Itself?

Asian economic integration has been strengthened both by market forces and agreements/cooperation among tlie Asian economies. This paper will emphasize the significant role of economic cooperation agreements that has strengthened Asian economic integration, especially in the M7 or "magnificent seven" economies (Japan, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand) which drive the re-emergence of Asian Economies. By employing literature surveys, secondary data, and a standard CTAT (Global Trade Analysis Project) model, this study shows that the economic forces and cooperation/agreements have contributed to increascAsian economic integration with the potential to support the reemergence of tire Asian economies. Both Japan and China are the poles of integration with different pattems among the other M7 seven economies. Total trade and intra industry trade among the M7 economies have increased steadily, representing the increasing integration among M7 economies. In addition, the impact ofRTAs/BTAs in the M7 economies tends to be positive in the developing M7 economies integration. Nonetheless, these cooperations/agreements have the potentials to raise the cost on the world economy.