This paper highlights the operation of ASEAN PTA, and identifies issues which could be of relevance to SAARC that has yet to incorporate trade cooperation in its sphere of activities.

This paper attempts to evaluate whether the PTA scheme has been successful in liberalizing intra-ASEAN trade through the new tariff reductions. More specfically, it stimulates the maximum potential trade creation effects within ASEAN of the 20% across-the-board tariff reduction on all items with import value of less than US$50,000 each in 1978 trade statstics. In addition, the implications of the latest proposal by the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) to consider raising the cut-off ceiling to US$500,000 are also analysed.

This book examines various trade flows between individual ASEAN countries, intra-ASEAN trade and its relation to total ASEAN trade. The author analyses the composition of trade flows and proposes an alternative approach to ASEAN economic cooperation.

There is no doubt that the open multilateral trading system after World War II was a key ingredient in the rapid economic development of the entire world. Especially in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, exports increased dramatically both in absolute terms and as a percentage of GNP. In the 1980s, however, preferential trading arrangements (PTAs) began to emerge as significant factors affecting world trade. This volume contains thirteen papers that analyze the tensions between multilateral trading systems and preferential trade arrangements and the impact of these tensions on East Asia. The first four chapters introduce PTAs conceptually and focus on the unique political issues that these agreements involve. The next five essays present more direct empirical analyses of existing PTAs and their economic effects, primarily in East Asia. The last four papers concentrate on the outcomes of individual East Asian nations' trading policies in specific instances of preferential agreements.

This timely volume reviews the rapidly changing international economic environment and raises a range of issues and concerns pertaining to recent developments and the future of AFTA, ASEAN Free Trade Area. Part one is devoted to thematic analyses and perspectives dealing with trade; enlarging the ASEAN regional grouping; and relations with the World Trade Organization (WTO). Part two analyses AFTA in a wider comparative perpectives, examining relationships with the major trading patners of ASEAN, namely the United States (and more broadly NAFTA); Japan; and the European Union.

Developing a framework to study "what makes a region," Amitav Acharya investigates the origins and evolution of Southeast Asian regionalism and international relations. He views the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) "from the bottom up" as not only a U.S.-inspired ally in the Cold War struggle against communism but also an organization that reflects indigenous traditions. Although Acharya deploys the notion of "imagined community" to examine the changes, especially since the Cold War, in the significance of ASEAN dealings for a regional identity, he insists that "imagination" is itself not a neutral but rather a culturally variable concept. The regional imagination in Southeast Asia imagines a community of nations different from NAFTA or NATO, the OAU, or the European Union. In this new edition of a book first published as The Quest for Identity in 2000, Acharya updates developments in the region through the first decade of the new century: the aftermath of the financial crisis of 1997, security affairs after September 2001, the long-term impact of the 2004 tsunami, and the substantial changes wrought by the rise of China as a regional and global actor. Acharya argues in this important book for the crucial importance of regionalism in a different part of the world.

This balanced, comprehensive guide to Southeast Asian politics offers a sensible but nondogmatic realist approach to the region's international relations. In this revised, second edition, Donald E. Weatherbee lucidly explains the dynamics of the Southeast Asian subsystem as a struggle for autonomy in pursuit of national interests. He explores three important questions, the answers to which will shape the future Southeast Asia. Will democratic regimes transform international relations in Southeast Asia? Will national leaders succeed in reinventing ASEAN as a more effective collaborative mechanism? Finally, how will the evolving Chinese position, balancing and perhaps displacing the United States as Asia's great power, affect Southeast Asia's struggle for autonomy?

China is under close scrutiny both as a market that could provide massive returns to investors and because of its potential to become the most powerful economy in Asia. This new study examines the economic relationship between China and Europe, its importance and how it is likely to evolve. The book considers the flow of trade, direct investment and technology transfer and contains case studies of manufacturing industries (automobiles, toys, watches, telecommunications) banking and insurance. The trade relationship between Europe and China is being re-evaluated by both sides and this is a valuable contribution to that process.

Asia and the New International Economic Order discusses issues concerning the establishment of the New International Economic Oder (NIEO) in Asia. The book addresses several themes concerning NIEO in Asia, such as trade, industrialization, food, raw materials, natural resources, regional integration, and socio-cultural issues. The text is comprised of 11 chapters; each tackles a specific region in Asia. The first chapter covers the socio-cultural imperatives. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss Japan's and South Korea's relationship with the NIEO, respectively. Chapters 4 and 5 cover China and the NIEO, while Chapters 6 and 7 tackle India and the NIEO. Chapter 8 talks about the natural resources and raw materials in Southeast Asia. Chapter 9 discusses the economic development of the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), while Chapter 10 covers the NIEO-Indonesian relations. The last chapter deals with Australia and the NIEO. This book will be of great use to individuals who are interested in the activities of the NIEO in Asia.

This 7-volume set reissues a range of classic out-of-print texts that cover a host of issues that have contributed to the development of modern East and South East Asia. With titles covering economics, politics, history, anthropology and security, this set provides the researcher with an essential resource on the region.