The Wto And Apec

This book provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive account of the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) organisation and examines the challenges APEC now faces in the new century. Subjects covered include: * the history of APEC * APEC and the latest WTO round * case-studies of countries in the region including China, Japan, Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan * APECs approach to competition and deregulation policy * assessment of APECs standing as an international institution Featuring contributions from distinguished groups of international academic experts, this book is essential reading for all those interested in political and economic developments in the Asia-Pacific.

Assesses the political feasibility of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) proposal and looks at alternative modalities for achieving free trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks attempt to link together at least nine countries in three continents to create a 'high-quality, twenty-first century agreement'. Such an agreement is intended to open markets to competition between the partners more than ever before in sectors ranging from goods and services to investment, and includes rigorous rules in the fields of intellectual property, labour protection and environmental conservation. The TPP also aims to improve regulatory coherence, enhance production supply chains and help boost small and medium-sized enterprises. It could transform relations with regions such as Latin America, paving the way to an eventual Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, or see innovations translated into the global trade regulatory system operating under the WTO. However, given the tensions between strategic and economic concerns, the final deal could still collapse into something closer to a standard, 'twentieth-century' trade agreement.

"This book assembles papers that were produced under a three year collaborative research program on 'China and APEC' undertaken by the AustraliaJapan Research Centre, in the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management at The Australian National University and the APEC Policy Research Center, in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. ... The work on this project and the papers in the volume provide a base for developing ideas that could be helpful to the policy agenda for APEC 2001."--Preface.