Trade Commerce And Security In The Asia Pacific Region

The Asia Pacific region is a dynamic but complex area where much of the history of the 21st Century will be scripted. Although the strategic and economic importance of the region continues to grow, challenges of reconciling national interests with regional and global interests continue. Security architectures during the Cold War were based primarily on military alliances. However the need today is to base these architectures on shared values, interests and challenges. We need not only define but believe in these universal values. This book brings out this important aspect of this region and explains them briefly.

Protectionism has been placed under the media spotlight, with news headlines generated by populist anti-globalization movements and Donald Trump's term as US President. Such a policy stance is putting at risk unilateral trade reform efforts in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere.This two-volume reference work provides a timely update on how far the region has come in opening markets. It analyzes the motivations or ostensible objectives of policies adopted in the past, the changing extent of the domestic price distortions involved, the economic effects of those policies at home and abroad, the political economy forces at work that brought about those policies and their subsequent reform, their consequences for international trade, economic welfare and poverty alleviation, and prospects for sustainable improvements in current policies. Case studies of major East Asian economies and Australia reveal how government priorities to assist farmers versus manufacturers changed over the past century but especially since the 1980s, and how that has affected trade between natural resource-poor and resource-rich economies.This set is highly recommended for those who are interested in the economics and politics of trade policies, agricultural economics, economic development, and food and nutrition security in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

This volume, first published in 1970, assesses the major reappraisal of US world commercial policy that took place in the 1960s – in particular the wishes for free trade treaties that would bring about the liberalisation of international trade.

Long divided by cultural, economic, and political differences, the Asia-Pacific region has little history of multilateral cooperation. Alliances that once linked individual countries with one or the other superpower fostered deep mistrust among neighbouring states. The end of the Cold War, however, has created new opportunities for multilateral coo

​The connections between trade and security are hardly new. Analysts and practitioners have clearly recognized this interrelationship since the mercantilist arguments of the 16th and 17th centuries. Despite wishful economic liberal thinking that might prefer to separate the political from the economic, it is widely recognized that trade and security are fundamentally interconnected in the foreign policy of states. Over time, as new forms of trade policy have come into being and the international security environment has evolved, the nexus of these two spheres has grown more complex and scholars have struggled to understand their interconnection This edited volume addresses linkages between trade and security by examining the influence of security factors in driving trade policy measures and the corresponding implications of different types of trade arrangements for international security. Ultimately, the project shows that several elements—traditional economic factors, traditional security factors, and human security factors—can affect the development of trade agreements and unilateral policies, and that trade policies may have both a direct and an indirect effect on traditional and human security. The project focuses on Asia, a region where economics is increasingly important but many security issues still linger unresolved, as a primary setting to test trade linkage theories. It also provides a comparative perspective through examination of how the EU and US have used their trade policies to achieve non-economic goals and how these policies have influenced their security environment. Case studies in this project cover key trade institutions and agreements including the World Trade Organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN Plus Three, the East Asia Summit, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and bilateral preferential trade agreements.

Free trade has become the mantra of development strategy for many countries in the world, especially those in the Asia Pacific. This book delves into the American side of the story. It is about how Singapore and the United States came to sign the agreement in 2003 (taking effect from 1 January 2004). The United States - Singapore Free Trade Agreement (USSFTA) is the first FTA that America signed with an Asian country and the second such agreement with a fully developed country, after Canada. The city-state has used a free trade agreement as both a national survival and a growth strategy, first forging such FTA ties with its major trading partners and then expanding its strategic link to such extra-regional great powers as the United States, Japan, Australia, China, India, and the European Union. Both Singapore and the United States saw in FTAs something more than just merchandise trade.

The editor of this book is to be congratulated for providing us with the works of a group of authors who combine proficient technical skills with elegant and lucid writing capabilities. . . This book would make excellent recommended reading for both undergraduate and graduate classes in international trade and finance. Herb Thompson, Journal of Contemporary Asia This book is based on the premise that Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) in the Asia-Pacific significantly impact on the material progress of the peoples of this region. These impacts in terms of the benefits and costs associated with RTAs will vary greatly from country to country. The internationally acclaimed contributors examine the theoretical perspective of RTAs in relation to exchange rates, the role and goals of the WTO and agriculture. The tensions and trade frictions resulting from the formation of trade blocs and their conflicts with the roles and goals of the WTO are also examined in the book. Those economies that are considered the economic powerhouses of the region including China, Japan, South Korea, major ASEAN countries and Australia are discussed in depth. The findings of the book suggest that RTAs are becoming increasingly popular in the Asia-Pacific region. However the associated costs and benefits depend on a number of complex factors including exchange rates, negotiation skills, the sectors included or excluded from the RTA, and the level of economic development of the nations signing the RTAs. The book will be particularly useful to academics, researchers, consultants, students, policy makers (including trade negotiators), and practitioners involved in trade and development in the Asia-Pacific region.