New Asian Regionalism as Responses to Globalisation and Crises: Overview

Increasing globalisation and the expanding membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have deeply affected all economies, developed and developing, world-wide. The impact was especially profound in the major countries in the Asian region that had achieved ‘miracle’ economic growth during the early 1960s to mid-1990s but have also experienced serious economic downturn since. The reasons for this downturn are numerous and diverse according to individual, institutional and national perceptions but, almost universally, they include notably the 1997 Asia crisis starting in Thailand, the global economic slowdown since 2001, the 11 September terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, corporate scandals in the US, the bubble of the hi-tech industries worldwide, the Iraq war, uncertain times ahead, and a short or even temporary recovery for Asian crisis economies has been observed not as a rule but only in some exceptions, such as Korea. The emergence of new Asian regionalism is an answer by East and South East Asian economies and their political leaders to deal effectively and bravely with these developments and challenges in order to restore growth, improve trade and investment opportunities and create welfare prospects in the Asian region.